A New Mission
by hferg
Summary: 14 months after the death of Orphan, a new l'Cie appears with a new mission. WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING OF THE GAME! Rated for violence, language, and possibly some adult situations read: I might put a sex scene in here at some point!
1. Awakening

_Author's Notes (A/N): Much like my other story, this one has been buzzing around in my head lately. It's probably because I've been spending most of the time I haven't been working or writing playing Final Fantasy XIII. At any rate, this story takes place fourteen months after the end of the game. As such, there will probably be some game spoilers in here, and that includes this chapter._

_Note: For those of you who are recieving a notice of an update to this chpater, I changed the name of the sword slightly, that's all. There is a reason for the change, but I'm not ready to say what it is yet._

_Disclaimer (Another story, another disclaimer, geez...): I do not own Final Fantasy XIII (OK, screw it, I'm just calling it FF13 from here out) or Square-Enix or anything else, other than some of the characters and the story I am writing._

**Chapter 1- Awakening**

Somewhere, in a dark room, a crystal man began to glow. As the glow brightened, the entire room became light, until fading just as quickly as it had arrived. Once the glow was gone, so too was the crystal. In its place stood the man, now flesh and blood. He wore what appeared to be a shirt that appeared to have been patched together from various cloths, though all of the patches were the same light brown color. The shirt was fairly loose around his body, a sign that either he wasn't the one it was meant for, or that whoever made it hadn't been very good at sewing. He wore pants made of the same material, though, unlike the shirt, they appeared to be whole and professionally made, and they were a much darker shade of brown. The man also had a short sleeve jacket on, like the pants, it was apparently professionally made, but like the shirt, it too had some patches in it. The back of the jacket hung low, just past his knees, and as he stepped off of the pedestal he had been standing on, it appeared to catch on a piece of crystal, tearing a gash almost six inches long in the back.

The man looked back at the jacket and sighed, removing it to examine it closer. Realizing that he didn't have time to mess with it, he tossed it aside and looked around the room he appeared in. The room appeared to be some sort of altar, and it looked as if a major battle had taken place in the room long ago. Long dead bodies were all over, time and scavengers reducing most of them to piles of bones. As he picked his way down from the top of the altar where he'd awoken, he knelt next to a particularly large pile of bones. As he did so, he looked at his left forearm and noticed a burned patch. _So I really am back. But what does that mean?_ The mark on his forearm began to burn, and the man instantly became more alert. Noticing a sword sticking out of the pile of bones, he grabbed the handle, only to hear a snap, and the sword to come out of the pile, broken in half.

"Sorry about your sword, old friend." A man's voice called from the shadows. The man didn't even react to the voice, he'd been expecting it. Looking at the sword carefully, he sighed and tossed it back onto the bone pile.

"It's all right, it was a replica." The man stood up and made his way through the bones, apparently searching for something. As he did, a yellow fox-like creature stepped out of the shadows behind him. The creature had one tail, but was completely covered in yellow fur, except for his paws and ears, and the tattered beige shirt that was covered the creature's body.

"How do you know that?" The creature walked toward the man, stopping at the pile and picking up the discarded sword piece.

"The real Zarkarran is made of a much stronger material. It would never have broken, especially that easily." The man paused and looked around again, before continuing to search and talk. "That sword was capable of channeling magic like the real one, but it was far too brittle." The creature nodded at the explanation, and continued to watch the man as he searched. "How long was I there?"

"Just over five hundred years."

The man looked down at his arm again. "I assume we failed?"

"No, not completely, anyway. Cocoon still exists, though Ragnarok was called. Twice, in fact."

The man sighed. "Then I failed."

"You did what you could. It isn't your fault that we weren't able to make use of what you gave us." The man looked back at the strange creature and smiled weakly at his comment. "They are in stasis." The creature knew what the man was going to ask, apparently, and was able to answer before he could.

"What happened?"

"We were able to stop them the first time, and they only wounded Cocoon. However, we lost the resulting battle, and were forced into exile. It took them five hundred years to get the pieces in place to try again, and when they did, the l'Cie rebelled and used Ragnarok to save it instead of destroying it. And, thankfully, in the process, our enemies were destroyed, which allowed us to return to this world."

The man had by now knelt down in front of a human looking corpse, one with rags still around its bones. Grabbing the rags and pulling them off, he began to wrap them around his forearm, covering the wound. "I assume you have a new Focus for me?"

"Unfortunately, I do. However, you are well aware that it is your choice whether or not you take it."

The man sighed and looked back at the creature as he stood up and walked past him toward the chamber's only visible doorway, having finished wrapping his arm. "Tell me about it."

The creature turned and walked with the man as he explained. "Barthandelus and his allies did many things wrong to Cocoon, and to Pulse. However, it has come to our attention that with their demise, a door has been left open for another threat to this world to emerge. The mission I have for you is simply to find this threat and neutralize it."

"You mean, kill it." The man smirked at his companion.

"We don't know if it can be killed." The man's smirk vanished, as the creature continued. "We don't even know for sure what it is or where it is coming from, only that it is." By now they had exited the altar and were standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a large expanse of plain. Far in the distance, a small planet hung in the air, covered by crystal. Below that planet appeared to be a crystal tower stretching all the way to the ground. This was world of Cocoon. The man stared at it with his jaw wide open.

"They did THAT?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Actually, they ARE that. Their sacrifice created the crystal tower and stabilized Cocoon after Orphan's death. It also relieved the l'Cie who aided them of the burden of the brand and awoke those who had fallen into crystal slumber." The creature turned to face the man. "Those who helped them, and were thus cursed to become l'Cie themselves by Anima, are currently residing in their old home in Oerba, in YOUR old home."

The man sighed once again, realizing that he had missed a lot in five hundred years. "The world now is nothing like it was when I was last on it, is it? I mean, the land is more or less the same, but the environment, the creatures, they've all evolved and moved on without me, haven't they?"

"To some extent, yes, they have." The creature paused to consider the conversation, before attempting to return to his original point. "You might be able to complete your mission by yourself. However, if I were you, I'd try to enlist the help of those who live in your old home. Like you, they all have experience with being l'Cie. I assume you know the route to get there."

The man glared at the creature next to him for a second before smiling at him lightly. "Of course I do. I need to stop there anyway to pick up some equipment I left behind." As he spoke, he pulled out of his pocket a small red gem with a chain on it.

Before he could do anything with the gem, however, the creature grabbed his arm. "Save your friend for later. It will do you good to walk to Oerba. You can learn about how much this world has changed in five hundred years." The man nodded and the creature released his arm before turning to walk away. "It should take you about a week to get to Oerba, and a few hours with your friend will get you to the base of the crystal pillar. I will meet you there and explain the rest. Good luck, Zion."

Zion put the gem back in his pocket and turned to walk away, but paused after a couple steps and turned back around. "Blaine." The creature stopped at the mention of his name and turned to face his friend. "Thank you." At the somewhat confused look on Blaine's face, he added. "For giving me a second chance. And for everything else you've done for me, and those I care for."

Blaine chuckled lightly at Zion's comments. "It is me who should be thanking you, if you hadn't done what you did so long ago, none of us would probably be here now." He paused and bowed to his friend. "I will see you in a week. Don't take too long, though, I do have other things to tend to and I can't wait forever." Before Zion could respond, Blaine disappeared into nothingness. As he did so, the burning sensation in Zion's arm disappeared. The man looked down at the wrapping, sighed, and turned to walk away from the place where he'd spent the last five centuries in crystal slumber.

_A/N: Chapter 1, done! In chapter 2 we will find out what the heroes from the game have been up to in the year plus since they saved the world! Depending on how long that part of the chapter is, I might have Zion meet the characters in that chapter as well. I haven't decided yet._

_As always, please read and review, and don't be afraid to give me constructive criticism. I will admit, I haven't beaten the game yet, I'm only on Chapter 12, so I haven't seen the full ending. I have heard what it is though, so I'm going off of that. Besides, it IS fiction, so if I don't quite have it correct... well, I'm just gonna call it "writer's creative license" simply because I can!_


	2. Rebuilding

_A/N: Well, here's Chapter 2. I honestly don't know how long this story is going to be, because I am more or less making it up as I go along, unfortunately. I do have at least one more O/C to bring in for a villain, but beyond that, even I have no idea what's going to happen! In fact, other than the next two chapters, I haven't planned ANYTHING yet!_

_I realized after I'd finished writing this chapter that there was a good chance it may contradict the ending of the game. If it does, I apologize for it, but I do have an idea to take care of the plot hole I created in this chapter. That is assuming I screwed up where I think I screwed up._

_Disclaimer: I REALLY wish I owned Final Fantasy, but I don't._

**Chapter 2- Rebuilding**

"Lightning? You in here?" The white-haired boy knocked on the closed door to his friend's bedroom. He'd been let in by Serah, who was leaving to go to the school. Hope, however, wasn't scheduled to be there for another hour. He was hoping that he could speak to his friend before she went off to work, and Sarah had told him that as far as she knew Lightning was still in her room.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, the door to Lightning's room opened, and she stood there in a bath robe. "Hope? What's going on? Why are you here so early?"

"Sorry, but I wanted to ask you about something." Hope was somewhat embarrassed to put his friend in what was probably a very uncomfortable situation for her. "I'd ask later, but its kinda time sensitive."

Lightning sighed at the request. "Hang on, let me get some clothes on." She shut the door after Hope nodded and he went into the kitchen to wait for her. After a couple of minutes, she came out dressed in her usual military attire, obviously getting ready for work. "What's going on?"

Hope couldn't help but blush a little. He'd just seen Lightning more vulnerable than he ever had before, and his favor was, to him at least, a big one. "Well, there's this girl that's been kinda trying to hit on me in school lately...."

Lightning smiled at her friend. "And you think I can give you relationship advice?"

Hope looked like he'd just been accused of something much worse than he had just done. "No, nothing like that. The problem is that I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, at least not that kind. Not right now, anyway." He was obviously getting more embarrassed by the minute, unsure of what to say.

"So, you want me to advise you on how to tell her no?"

"I..." Hope suddenly was at a loss for words. Did he want to know how to say no to this girl? Sure he liked her, but he knew that he still missed Vanille. But the odds of ever seeing HER again were almost zero, and he was well aware of it.

Lightning seemed to get what he was thinking about, though. "You're still not over her, are you?" At Hope's weak smile, she decided on what advice she should give him. "I'm not the one who you should go to for relationship advice, I don't know whether you should say no or not. But, if you think that it won't end well, then it's probably better if you do let her down. But don't be mean or rude about it, all right?"

Hope smiled for the first time since Lightning had answered the door. "Yeah, thanks, Light. I should be heading for school now, I have some work to do before class." He stood up and started for the door, but ran head first into Dajh, knocking him over in his haste. "Oh, sorry, Dajh." Hope leaned over to help the boy up, who gratefully took the offer.

"Careful, boys. Don't need any more trouble than we've already got, and I'm getting too old to keep up anyway." A voice came from the doorway.

"Yeah, sorry Sazh. I need to watch where I'm going. Excuse me! Bye!" Hope waved to the three and dashed out the door, leaving Sazh to wonder what just happened.

"Don't worry about him, he's just growing up." Sazh looked at Lightning, who had poured herself a cup of coffee, and was offering another to her friend.

"Growing up? He's only..." Sazh stopped as the realization dawned on him. Sixteen, that's how old Hope was about to become. His birthday was only a couple of weeks away.

"Yeah, he's going to be sixteen very soon, his dad is driving himself crazy trying to set up a surprise party for him, and apparently he's got a girl who wants to date him!" Lightning laughed a little as she finished the statement. "That boy has his hands full!"

Sazh joined in the laughter. "Yeah, I guess he does."

"Dad? Where was Hope going?" Dajh's innocence was showing through as always.

"He's going to the same place you'll be going in the fall, to school." Dajh was five years old now, and by fall he'd be almost six. Even Sazh was having trouble coming to terms with this idea. But he knew that in the end there was nothing that could be done about getting older. However, he did wish that the scarred mark of the l'Cie would disappear so that he wouldn't have to explain it.

Dajh had wandered around the kitchen and living room as his father was lost in thought, but his question brought both him and Light back to reality. "Where's Bhakti?"

"I don't know, Dajh, he's been gone for a few days." Lightning wasn't worried, after all, this wasn't the first time the little robot had disappeared. It usually returned a few days later with something that, at least in its artificial mind, was valuable. Sazh's tinkering with the robot hadn't helped things any, either. "He'll probably return soon." She finished her coffee and stood up. "I'm sorry, but I do need to get to work. If you see Snow, remind him that he needs to go to Bodhum sometime today to get fitted for his tux for the wedding."

"All right, I'll do that." Sazh nodded and Light left for work. After he'd finished his own coffee, he and Dajh left the room as well. "Come on, son. Let's go see those chocobo, huh?" Dajh smiled as his dad led him away from the house that they shared part-time with the other former l'Cie and into Oerba itself.

On the surface, Oerba hadn't changed much in the last year. There were a handful of community dwellings, an old mill, and an old schoolhouse. But in the last year, the Cie'th had all been cleaned out of the village and its surrounding area. The former railway that lead north out of the small town had been converted into a landing pad for small airships, and most of the crystal dust had been removed from the area. The buildings themselves had even been renovated, and the village now had a permanent population of about 70 people, with the six former l'Cie occupying Fang and Vanille's old home on a part-time basis.

Cocoon's residents had begun to migrate to Pulse after the destruction of Orphan, and thus Barthandelus and his allies. Though Cocoon was still very much alive, a handful of fal'Cie had been destroyed in the chaos, but many had survived. Bodhum, Palumpolum, and even Eden were all still very well populated, and even though the Sanctum was no more, the military had re-organized itself under new leadership, and Lightning herself had been promoted to Lieutenant. Sarah, along with Bartholomew, Hope's father, had begun holding classes in the old school in Oerba, while Snow and NORA had become a local police force in Bodhum. Sazh, when he's not taking care of Dajh, had become known as an excellent freelance pilot, and spent much of his time ferrying people all over Cocoon, and even to Pulse via Oerba. To some extent, life had begun to return to normal for the former l'Cie, in fact, only Dajh and Sarah still bore the brand of the fal'Cie, and much like Fang's had when she awoke, their brand was burned and scarred. Although Lightning had wondered why that was at first, she had been unable to find anything relating to the brands and eventually gave up on it.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Pulse, Zion was making his way toward the Archlyte Steppe. Finding himself surrounded by several tiger-like creatures, he was forced to react quickly. Unleashing a massive bolt of lightning, he couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face as two of the six giant cats dropped dead from the electrocution. The smirk disappeared quickly as he was forced to roll out of the way of another tiger's swipe, rising up to hit the tiger, and the one next to it with an icy blast, killing them as well. That left two, who charged at him, only to miss as he split them and left behind a fiery blast that sent them into the air. One of the creatures broke its neck as it landed, the crack seemed unusually loud, but the other managed to survive. That is, until he was knocked out by a series of punches from the l'Cie.

Breathing heavily, Zion looked around the area quickly. Satisfied that there was nothing that was going to be attacking him anytime soon, he decided to climb up into a tall tree nearby for a quick rest. From here, he could be safe from any ground creatures as they couldn't reach that high, and the leaves hid him from any of the large carnivorous birds he'd spotted flying around. For four days now, he'd been moving north as fast as possible, stopping every few hours to eat or rest a little before continuing on. By now, the lack of sleep was starting to bother him a little bit, but he knew that he had to keep moving in order to get to Oerba by the designated time.

Looking up at the sky, he realized it was nearly midday and now would be the hardest time to travel, as most of the creatures he'd seen were more active in sunlight than evening. He decided he'd rest for about two hours, then get moving once again. He knew he'd need to stop soon to eat, but the tigers that he'd just killed were not very edible. In fact, he'd only been able to eat one decent meal since he started his journey, and that was two days ago when he managed to catch a few fish for dinner. Other than that, and a few trial-and-error meals from the creatures he'd killed, he'd been living off of berries and nuts he'd found growing in various places. He sighed and closed his eyes, allowing sleep to take over his body for a little while.

"Hey, Light, aren't you glad we talked you into this?" Serah was obviously enjoying her day at the beach. She and Snow had been running around all day in their bathing suits as the entire weekend had been set aside for a large celebration, though of what, nobody was sure. Most people guessed it was the end of winter and the coming of summer, which wouldn't be inaccurate, though this would be the first time Bodhum celebrated the seasonal change this way.

"Yeah, it's great." Lightning wasn't quite as enthused as her sister was. She'd been given the weekend off, and she was in a two-piece bathing suit of her own, but she didn't appear to be having as much fun as the others were.

"Oh, come on, let's go for a swim!" Hope was pulling one of her arms as Dajh pulled the other, and reluctantly, the soldier gave in and waded into the ocean with the two kids, much to Sazh, Snow, and Serah's delight.

"So, you two are finally going through with it, huh?" Sazh had a habit of bringing reality crashing down on his friends, though in this case, neither of his companions seemed to mind.

"Yep, six weeks from now, it'll be Snow and Serah Villiers!" Snow couldn't help but laugh at his own comments, which earned him a playful smack from his fiance.

"Oh, please, you know Claire won't let me take your name. If anything it'll be Snow and Serah Farron!" Now it was her turn to laugh, which led to Sazh and Snow laughing as well.

"Well, whatever you two decide, I'm sure it'll be a great day."

"Yeah, it's going to be fantastic. I just wish that...." Serah suddenly stopped speaking, realizing where that train of thought was leading. Like the others, she wished that Fang and Vanille were still around, even though she'd never met Fang and had only met the other girl once. Of course, after she had awoke from her slumber, she'd been filled in on everything that had happened, including the parts that the Pulsians had played in her becoming a l'Cie. She had been forgiving of it, knowing that they were doing what they believed to be the right thing.

"Hey, we all wish they could be here. But even though they can't be physically present, they'll be there in spirit, right?" Sazh was being his usual sage-like self, imparting wisdom, even if it's incorrect, upon those who need it most.

"Hey, who knows, maybe a miracle will happen and they'll be released from their slumber!" Snow, of course, had to be his extremely optimistic, borderline delusional self, as well. Of course, Serah smiled, and even laughed at Snow's comment, before giving him a look that said she had called his bluff. "Hey, you woke up, didn't you?"

Serah sighed, the memories of her time as a l'Cie were still painful, and she knew that she had caused a lot of problems because of her curiosity. "Yeah, but I got lucky, Snow. We all did. Their sacrifice saved us and freed everyone from the fal'Cie's rule. But who's going to save them?"

Snow had no answer for that, and neither did Sazh. They both sighed and ordered another round of drinks for the three of them from a passing waitress. "Well, maybe we can go to the pillar after the ceremony. At least then maybe we can tell them thanks." Serah's face brightened up a little at this. She smiled and kissed Snow on the cheek as she stood up. "I'm going to go make sure the kids don't give Claire too hard of a time."

With that, she took off for the water, heading straight for Lightning, Hope, and Dajh, leaving the two men to their own thoughts, though not for long. "You know, I have to admit, I don't think I've seen Hope that happy in quite a long time." Bartholomew sat down in the chair Serah had just vacated, and drew Snow and Sazh's attention to him. Of everyone that had been affected by the Purge, Bartholomew, it seemed, had suffered the most. He'd lost his wife and nearly lost his son to the Purge, and then to the fal'Cie's will. He himself had been persecuted by PSICOM as a Pulse sympathizer and declared a traitor to the Sanctum, before Barthandelus's treachery had been uncovered and made public knowledge.

Sazh held his drink up to the newcomer in a show of agreement and appreciation. "Yep, he's definitely enjoying himself. It's good to see him be able to be a kid for once, to be carefree." Snow and Bartholomew held their drinks up in a toast to the kids, but afterward, Sazh seemed to become depressed.

"What's wrong, old man?" Snow had to push his friend's buttons, even when he was upset.

"Dajh. He's young enough that I don't know how much of this incident he's going to remember. I'm scared to death that the day's going to come when he comes home crying that he got teased by someone over his scar, and he won't be able to remember why he has it."

Bartholomew was the first to react to Sazh's problem. "I don't know how much he'll remember either, but I do know that as long as you do, he'll never have to worry about it." The older man sighed, then continued. "To be honest, there are things about those days that I wish Hope wouldn't remember. Seeing his mother die, losing his friends like he did, he went through hell after the Purge, probably more than any of us. I mean, at least I'm old enough to know how to deal with what happened, but Hope...." The distressed father couldn't finish the sentence as tears began to find their way from his eyes.

This time, Snow was the one to provide the help. "Hey, we all have nightmares about what happened, and Hope is no different. But out of all of us, I think he's the one who came out of it all with the most positive attitude. He's the one who, as far as I can tell, has been able to put everything behind him the best. I don't think you have to worry about him dealing with it or understanding it."

Snow's reassuring smile forced Bartholomew to smile in return. "Yes, I suppose you're right." Before anyone else could say anything, a high pitched scream was heard coming from the ocean. All three men turned their attention toward the scream to see the children taking turns dunking Lightning and Serah under the water. And the smiles on the faces of those four couldn't be any bigger.

_FINALLY, I'm almost home. _In six days, Zion had managed to not only get to the Steppe, but cross it. Now he stood before Taejin's Tower. Beyond that was his home town, and his goal, Oerba. _I can camp at the base of the Tower, and I should be able to be home by tomorrow evening._ The l'Cie ran off, toward the tower, toward the next part of his mission, and toward his fate.

_A/N: Well, I was going to put more of Zion's trek to Oerba on here, but I decided that this chapter really needed to focus on the cast from the game. Next time around, we'll have Zion meeting said cast, and some more things will be revealed._

_Also, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, it is greatly appreciated._

_To Johan07: I hope I don't let you down too much with this chapter. I do have some surprises in store for future installments, too._

_To LoriMina: I'm glad to hear you say that, though admittedly, I'm surprised as well. Hope you continue to enjoy reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it._


	3. Meeting

_A/N: All right, time for another chapter! It occurs to me that I have no idea how long this story's going to be, other than it's going to be VERY long. In fact, I'll be surprised if it isn't more than thirty chapters by the time it's over. Because of that, I'm considering making it a series of stories, much like my other work. I'll probably do that, but even if I do, this story's going to have at least ten more chapters to it. I can say that right now, even though I only have planned out the next two or three, simply because I know where I'll be cutting the story off, and it's quite a while off._

_Disclaimer: I will never have enough money to own the rights to Final Fantasy._

**Chapter 3- Meeting**

Zion had been lucky. He had managed to get to the top of Taejin's Tower much faster than he'd anticipated, since the restructuring that the l'Cie had done fourteen months ago was still there, and all he had to do was ride the elevator to the top. Once he'd gotten to the end of the elevator track out of the Tower, he had simply had to avoid a small, three person patrol to get into the village of Oerba. Now he stood there, bathed in shadow despite the mid day sun, as he watched the building he'd once called home.

Although he hadn't seen any activity from the house, he had no reason to assume that nobody was inside. Since he needed to talk to them, he decided to wait until he was sure someone was there to make his move. After about an hour of waiting, a gray haired teenager came from the far side of the village, from the bridge, no, the school. As Zion watched, the boy walked up the steps to the second floor of the building, and after he disappeared from sight, several voices were heard. Deciding that most, if not all, of the people he needed to see were in the building, and that the area around him was clear of any probing eyes, Zion emerged from the shadows and quickly made his way after the boy.

As soon as he got to the top of the steps and turned the corner, he came face to face with several people sitting around a table in the middle of the first room. All of them looked at him with surprise when he appeared, and he himself was quite shocked to see all of them appearing so calm in his own house. No, it wasn't his house, it hadn't been since he became a l'Cie, and they knew the last residents of this house, so they did have a right to be here. Before he could say anything, though, he was greeted by a sword pressed against his neck as someone had walked up to him from behind. All Zion could do from this position was let out a frustrated sigh and curse himself for being careless. The person behind him was the first to speak up, and to Zion's surprise, the voice was female. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Zion glanced behind him, and noticed that the person holding the sword was in her twenties, and was virtually a twin of one of the females sitting at the table. He contemplated his answer, the sword pressed harder against him, almost drawing blood. "Answer!"

"Would you like for me to answer or would you rather just kill me?" Zion wasn't particularly happy about being interrogated like this, he hadn't come looking for a fight, but he wasn't the type of person to back down either. The people sitting at the table were looking between the two with some concern, it was apparent that they weren't used to this woman being talked to like that.

The woman who was threatening him didn't seem to like being taunted, and she pressed again with the sword, this time drawing a small trickle of blood. "You are the one who barged into our home. I have a right to defend it."

"Your home? Last time I checked this was Gran Pulse, not Cocoon." One thing Zion was good at was getting reactions when he wanted one, and he quickly realized that this reference would probably get quite a reaction out of more than just the woman who held his life in her hands. And as he'd expected, everyone in the room except for the small dark skinned boy sitting on what Zion guessed was his father's lap tensed up at his statement.

The blond man sitting on the end of the table next to the twin of the sword wielder was the first to respond to his comment. "_Gran _Pulse? I've only heard two other people refer to it as that."

"Yes, that's not surprising, though look at what became of them." Zion had definitely hit a nerve with the people in the room, as they were obviously made uneasy at his comments. He also thought he detected a little curiosity in their collective expressions as well. That made him smirk slightly because he realized that if he could make them uncomfortable enough or curious enough, maybe he could talk his way out of a quick and painful death.

The dark skinned man spoke next. "Lightning, maybe we should see what he has to say." The female behind him hesitated for a second, and Zion knew she was debating her options. Eventually, she sighed and removed the sword from around him, though she didn't sheath it, and she did stay in an offensive stance.

Zion looked her way quickly. "Thanks, I really do appreciate it." He nodded to her but stepped away from her toward the middle of the room so that he could see everyone at once. "As for your questions, my name is Zion, and I used to reside here." As he spoke he waved his hands in a wide motion, indicating the house they were currently in.

The gray haired boy spoke up now. "But this place has been abandoned for..."

Before he could finish, Zion cut in. "Yes, it has been vacant for five hundred years, I am well aware of that. I lived here back then, and I knew your friends quite well. At least, I'm assuming you were the four who helped them with their Focus." At his statement everyone gasped and murmured between each other, speculating on what Zion had just said. How could he have been alive five hundred years ago? And if he was alive then, how could he be here now? And how would he know of what they'd done? Zion knew their questions and decided to confront them. "If you haven't already guessed, I am a Pulse l'Cie. My Focus was given to me just over five hundred years ago, a Focus which I completed. Because of that, I was placed in crystal stasis where I'd remained until a week ago."

"So you've awoke from slumber? Then you're no longer l'Cie, right?" The pink girl at the table appeared to be quite curious at his comments, but Zion wasn't sure why. Come to think of it, he was only aware of four friends who had helped the Pulsians, but there were six people in this room. Zion was aware that the four who helped were unbranded as a result of Ragnarok's appearance, and as such they would have reverted to normal humans.

It was at this point that he noticed the small boy had a brand on the back of his hand, one that was burned and scarred, much like his. Unconsciously, he rubbed his own brand, which was still covered by the wrap he'd made a week ago. Looking down, he pulled off the wrap to expose the brand to the others. Once it was exposed, everyone in the room once again let out a startled gasp and began to mutter questions and statements to each other.

"I am l'Cie, and I always will be. As will he." Zion pointed to the small boy, as everyone turned to look at him, realizing suddenly what he'd meant. At this point, he decided he should elaborate. "When a l'Cie is branded, he or she is given a Focus to complete, you all already know this, as you've all already been through it. You should also be aware that when the Focus is completed, the l'Cie is rewarded with eternal rest in crystal stasis, which the boy has definitely experienced."

"How do you know that?" The father was obviously worried, and rightfully so. If he had only heard the limited tales of l'Cie and fal'Cie, he would have no idea what the scarred brand would mean.

Zion smiled at the father, which he noticed made the man cringe slightly. "When a l'Cie is placed in crystal slumber, their brand is burned and scarred into their flesh. It is proof of their loyalty to the fal'Cie that branded them. Under normal circumstances, the l'Cie would remain in stasis until he was called upon by the fal'Cie once again. In the case of your son, however, the events that you and your friends participated in destroyed the contract of all the l'Cie who had been branded to that point, and he was freed from stasis. However, he still bears the mark, and thus the power that goes with it."

"Then he'll..." The man was on the verge of tears, and Zion noticed that the blond-haired man was comforting the pink-haired girl next to him. Even the one standing seemed to be a little shocked at this revelation, and it took Zion a few seconds to realize why.

"Oh, Fang, you never did pay enough attention in history." Zion muttered to himself before continuing with his explanation to the others. "No, he won't become a Cie'th. One of the advantages of the burned mark is that the clock is stopped as a result. No matter how long he is out of stasis, he will never become a Cie'th. Besides, you can't fail a Focus you were never given, and as far as I'm aware, he doesn't have one."

"But how would you know?" The father was somewhat relieved by Zion's explanation, but he was still obviously concerned about his son being out of stasis.

"The only fal'Cie who can give him a new Focus is the one who branded him to begin with. As far as I'm aware, that fal'Cie no longer lives, correct?"

"No, the fal'Cie that branded him is still alive." The gray haired boy was speaking now. There was definitely worry in his voice, its tone matched the father's.

"That's strange, I was under the impression that Anima was destroyed by your group when she turned you into l'Cie." Zion was definitely taken aback by this idea.

"Anima was destroyed, but it was Kujata that branded Dajh." The father was obviously saddened by this idea.

"Oh, I see, I'm sorry about that." Zion paused for a second, before adding. "Why was he picked by Kujata? It is unusual for fal'Cie of his type to take l'Cie."

Once again, the teenage boy spoke. "Fang had forgotten her Focus when she came out of stasis. Vanille claimed that she had as well, in an attempt to avoid completing it. They went to Euride Gorge at Fang's request to see Kujata in an attempt to remember their Focus. In the process, they tried to attack the fal'Cie and Dajh was branded in an attempt to defend itself."

Zion was quiet as he considered this new information. "Well, then, I'd guess it would be safe to say that he is in no danger of having a new Focus. Even if he did, he's not in any danger of becoming a Cie'th, so you can ignore the question, if you wish."

The older pink-haired female spoke up now. "Why Fang, but not Vanille?"

Zion looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Fang's mark, when she came out of stasis. It appeared like yours, scarred and burned. But Vanille's didn't. It was still a normal mark."

"Fang's focus was to become Ragnarok. Whether she destroyed Cocoon or not didn't matter. As for Vanille, I don't know what her Focus was, I had already been in stasis myself by the time they were brought into service by Anima. And before you ask, the reason I know about Fang's is related to my own original Focus, which has no bearing on the present."

"So why are you here then? What is your Focus now?" The younger sister asked this time.

Zion thought for a second about how to phrase his response before giving it. "I'm here for two reasons. The first is to pick up some equipment I stashed here last time I wandered this world. The second is to ask for your help as it relates to my Focus." Zion sighed and leaned against the wall, turning his back to those assembled in the room as he attempted to gather his thoughts before he explained further. "First off, I must tell you that unlike all of you, I volunteered to become a l'Cie. I had become aware of a problem coming from the fal'Cie and when I was presented with a chance to end a fight before it began, I took it. Unfortunately, even though I was successful in my Focus, my allies were defeated in the fight that nonetheless resulted."

He turned back around to face the gathered people once again. "Now you have managed to accomplish what my friends couldn't, in defeating Barthandelus and his allies, but in doing so, you've opened the door for something else to come in. My new Focus is to find this door and reseal it. Though it is my responsibility, I am not sure if I can do it alone, and as such, I was told to seek help from all of you before meeting with my fal'Cie again."

"Why us?" The gray boy seemed most interested in the idea.

"Because you have all been l'Cie before. You all know what it means, what's at stake." He glanced at the girl seated at the table. "And for some of you, there is almost no risk."

The older sister scoffed at his remark. "I, for one, have no intention of becoming a slave again. Count me out." She began to walk away, but was stopped by Zion's next statement.

"I'm not asking you to become l'Cie again. The fal'Cie I'm meeting won't force you to do so. All I'm asking is that you come with me to this meeting, then decide for yourselves if you wish to participate."

The woman looked at him, appearing to analyze his statement, and his sincerity. After a few seconds, she sighed. "I don't know if I can trust you or not. When do you meet him?"

"Tonight, at the base of the crystal tower." Everyone looked at him with a shocked expression at this statement. Before they could ask, he elaborated. "I already have transportation to get there from here, there will be enough room for all of you, should you wish to come." Zion looked outside, and realized that they would need to make preparations to leave soon. "I'll be waiting at the end of the bridge to the north in two hours. If you'll excuse me, I need to take what I came for and get ready to go." He walked into the kitchen, behind the table of the assembled Cocoon residents and knelt down near the oven. Pressing his hand against the wall, after a few seconds, a click was heard.

Without a word, Zion left the group and headed down to the lower level of the building, where a hidden panel had opened in the floor. Inside that panel was a set of clothes, similar to the ones he had on but much darker in shade, and a sheathed sword. Zion quickly changed his clothes, apparently not bothered by several sets of eyes watching him strip. Once he had changed, he put the sword on his back and turned to the assembled group. "Remember, two hours at the north end of the bridge. I'll see you then." With that, he walked past them and into the village square, disappearing around the corner of the house and out of sight.

The sun had started to fade slightly as Zion knelt at the edge of the ruined bridge. He was marveling at the sight of Cocoon before him, but he was also saddened by it. "Fang, Vanille, I hope I get the chance one day to tell you face to face how sorry I am for all of this." It was barely a whisper, and he was quite startled that anyone had heard it, when he got a response.

"I'm sure you will get the chance, some day." Zion spun around on one knee, his hand instinctively reaching for his sword, until he realized that the man speaking was the blond from the house. The Cocoon resident was accompanied by all of the other people in the house earlier, as well as one other that he hadn't seen before.

It was the unknown man who spoke now. "I hear you're taking my son on another grand adventure. I hope and pray that you will help to keep him safe."

It became apparent to Zion immediately what the other man was talking about, and he nodded to him. "I will do my best, sir." He then turned to the rest of the assembled group. "All of you are coming to the pillar?"

The older sister spoke up now. "Yes, we are, but I suppose we should introduce ourselves first. You already said your name was Zion. Mine is Lightning. She is my younger sister, Serah." The girl pointed to her almost twin.

The blond spoke now. "My name is Snow, and I'm Serah's fiance." He held his hand out for Zion, who took it quickly.

"I'm Sazh, and this is my son, Dajh." The dark skinned man was speaking now, and Zion shook his hand as well, then nodded to the Dajh, who was on his father's shoulders.

"And my name's Hope." The boy was definitely the most excited to be going on this trip, Zion noted. As with the other men, Zion and Hope shook hands quickly, before Hope asked. "So, where's this transportation you said you had?"

Zion stared at Hope for a second before he realized what the younger man was referring to. "Oh, yes, that. It's right here." He produced a red gem with a chain around it. Holding it in his hand, it began to glow. A beam of light shot out of the gem and onto the ground nearby. Out of this light appeared a large, brown skinned dragon.

The dragon was about twice the size of a behemoth, and had a pair of wings jutting out just behind his shoulders, along with a pair of horns on his head and a tail that appeared to have a point to it that could be useful in cutting down enemies. Everyone was shocked at the appearance, as Zion walked toward it. "Hello again, old friend. I suppose you're happy to be out of there, aren't you?" The dragon snorted, a small amount of smoke coming from his nose. Zion chuckled a little at this as he rubbed the top of the dragon's head, before turning to the others. "This is Draco. He'll take us to the pillar." He turned back to the dragon. "You think you can take all of us at once?" If they didn't know better, the Cocoon residents could have sworn Draco had nodded at the question, this idea was confirmed as Zion continued to speak. "Good. Just give us a minute, will you?"

Hope couldn't believe what he was seeing. The only thing he could think of that was even close to that was... "Is that an Eidolon?"

Zion chuckled at the question, as he'd been expecting it. "No, Draco's not an Eidolon. Even if I wasn't a l'Cie, I would still be able to summon him. He's more of a family friend, though, like Eidolons, he doesn't age. In fact, he'd been associated with our family for over two thousand years when I was placed in stasis. Unfortunately, because of my stasis, I was the last one to be able to summon him." He held up the ruby charm. "Nobody can summon him without this, and even with it, you have to be recognized as a member of our family to control him. Even then, he is his own being, and won't always listen." Zion laughed lightly at this comment, a memory suddenly coming to his mind. Draco appeared to get the same memory in his, as he snorted smoke once again, and growled lightly.

Zion addressed the group once again. "We need to get going, it'll take almost two hours to get to the pillar from here. Also, unfortunately, I don't have any seat belts or reigns on Draco, but then again, he normally doesn't carry more than two people. Just remember to hold on tight and try not to kick his wings, all right?" The group nodded and Zion turned back to Draco. "And you, try to keep out of trouble during the flight. The last thing we need is you spinning around and shaking our guests off your back, got it?" The dragon again snorted at the question. "Good, then let's go." As he spoke, he leaped onto the back of the dragon, as close to the neck as he possibly could, before holding out his hand to help the others on.

Once everyone was on, the father spoke to Zion once again. "I'm sorry, but I won't be coming with you. I'm neither a fighter nor a healer, so I'm afraid I wouldn't be any help to you. Just please take care Hope, he's all I have left." Zion nodded, and Hope's father backed away. "Good luck to you all."

"Thanks, Dad!" Hope called as he waved good bye to his father.

Zion smiled back at the teenager and nodded to the father, before turning to Draco. "All right, away we go." Draco took the signal, and began to run forward, much to everyone's shock and surprise. "Oh no, I forgot, with this much weight, he needs to get a running start!" Everyone looked at Zion with a mix of anger, confusion, and fear as Draco stepped right off the edge of the bridge, into the air beyond. After a few seconds of falling, the beast howled and started flapping his wings, the group's descent slowing and finally stalling, before they rose back into the sky, flying toward the crystal tower in the distance.

_A/N: Well, they met, and now they're off! Next time, Blaine appears again, and the surprise that he has for the heroes will set off a whole TON of revelations, so many that I'm not sure I can fit them all in one chapter!_

_  
As always, please leave reviews and comments, I really do enjoy them!_


	4. Reunion

_A/N: Yep, another chapter is upon you! This one is going to be kinda short, but that's because I was going to have this and the next chapter combined into one, but I think that the next chapter is going to be a LONG one, so it's better to split it up. You can probably guess the chapter's meaning, if you have any idea what happened in the game or what I've mentioned in this story so far, and I know it's a cliche move, but I had to put it in here anyway. You can tell me it's a dumb idea, that's fine, just please don't flame me! I'll even get on my knees and beg if it'll help!_

_Disclaimer: Yep, I just checked, and I still don't have anything to do with the making of this game, or the series, or the company that owns said series._

**Chapter 4 – Reunion**

They had been flying for about an hour and a half when Zion realized they were getting close to the pillar. Apparently Draco had been going faster than he'd anticipated. The ride so far had been fairly peaceful, a few flying enemies had tried to attack them, but Draco's fire breath and Zion's magic attacks had dealt with them without too much trouble. Behind him, Zion had heard bits and pieces of many conversations, whisperings, and mutterings, and had answered a few questions that had been directed at him, though he wasn't able to elaborate any further on the mission he'd been given.

"Slow down a little bit, Draco. I want to find a spot to land." They were close enough to the pillar by now that they could see the ground around it quite clearly. Zion knew they would need a spot to land and to possibly camp for the night, so he was looking for something near the pillar, as it would provide protection for the group. One thing that he'd revealed to the others during the flight was that the crystal pillar, like other forms of the l'Cie crystal, gave off some sort of energy that humans couldn't detect but the other creatures could. This energy acted as a repellant or irritant, and for the most part, creatures stayed away from that area.

After a few minutes of searching, Zion spotted a suitable area on the east side of the pillar, and instructed Draco to land there. The dragon complied as gently as he could, shifting his flight path to make for the clearing. Once back on the ground, Zion hopped off quickly, then helped the others get down. Having ridden Eidolons before, the trip hadn't been that impressive for the former l'Cie, but Serah and Dajh had apparently both enjoyed it quite a bit. "That was so much fun! Can we do it again, Dad?" Dajh asked once he was back on the ground.

"Well, Dajh, we have to get back to Oerba somehow, don't we?" Sazh was clearly enjoying his son's wonder at what he'd just done, and couldn't help but tease him. Lightning glanced at the two and gave the father a smile, something that was still rarely seen from her. Everyone else had started to spread out around the clearing, looking around, some of them in wonder how a place like this could exist, others with concern that they were walking into a trap. After all, even though Zion had convinced all of them that they would be safe, they were still dealing with fal'Cie and l'Cie, so it was very hard to be fully trusting.

Zion himself had walked toward the crystal pillar. He had seen it from a distance since he woke from his own slumber, and although he knew who was responsible, he still couldn't believe that this was the result of them completing their focus. He turned back around after a few seconds and looked at the scene before him.

The Cocoon residents had broken off on their own for the most part and were looking around as if they had never been there before. Then it occurred to Zion that they probably hadn't been there before, since the area was extremely difficult to get to. He then spotted Draco near the edge of the clearing, sitting down and watching everyone, almost as if he was waiting for one of them to get out of line so he could attack. Zion considered dismissing his friend, but realized that he didn't know how long they'd be here, and he probably didn't have enough reserve energy to summon the dragon again if he needed to.

"Well, you got here faster than I thought you would." Everyone's attention turned immediately to the yellow fox-like creature that suddenly had appeared behind Zion, standing next to the pillar. "And I see you brought all of them, quite impressive, Zion."

"Well, their curiosity outweighed their suspicions. Then again, two of them have nothing to lose, do they?"

Everyone but Zion was slightly shocked at the appearance of the fox, and almost all of them immediately realized that he was a fal'Cie, probably the one that Zion was branded to, by the way they were talking. Even Draco seemed to be surprised at its appearance, but since he was aware of who it was, he didn't seem to really mind it. None of Zion's passengers had found the courage to speak directly to either of the people on the small hill that the pillar had been buried in, at least not yet, so the two carried on a somewhat private conversation.

"I assume you told them of your Focus."

"I told them what I could, but since you haven't fully briefed me on it yet, it's hard to say much."

"Ah, yes, I suppose not." The fox looked at Zion's arm, and noticed that he'd removed the cover over his brand. "You told them of your status?"

"They were all l'Cie, you know that as well as anyone. There is no reason to hide what I am from them. Besides, they needed to know about the extent of the Cie'th clause."

The fox looked at Zion for a second as if he wasn't sure what the l'Cie was implying, but quickly recovered. "They are all willing to help?"

"They are willing to listen at least. It is more than I would probably be willing to do if I was them." There was a little bit of anger and annoyance in Zion's voice as he was speaking, which some of the others had picked up on.

"I am aware of what happened to them. It really is shameful what Anima did to them."

"Anima didn't turn the small one into l'Cie. You neglected to mention that earlier."

The fox sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry for that."

Lightning couldn't believe it. Zion, a l'Cie was actually being treated as an equal by this mysterious fal'Cie. Even more amazing, it appeared from Zion's tone that he was actually lecturing the fal'Cie about not knowing what was going on. She wasn't sure why the fal'Cie hadn't lashed out at the inferior creature, but it actually appeared that it was agreeing with him.

The fox and his friend were continuing their conversation. "They know the risks if they decide to join you?"

"They want to know what it is they're getting into before they decide, but yes, they know the possible consequences, at least as far as I can tell them." He looked at the group before turning back to the fox. "Perhaps you can explain to all of us just what the hell it is that you want us to do."

The fox stared at Zion's rather rude statement, and for a second, everyone held their collective breaths, expecting it to strike Zion down in a rage. To everyone's surprise, the fox simply nodded to the human, who then backed away, off the hill to stand by Draco at the back of the clearing.

The fox watched Zion's movements carefully, before sighing and scanning the assembled group. "First things first, my name is Blaine, and as you have probably guessed by now, I am a fal'Cie." Everyone nodded their head at this statement, and the fox continued. "I don't know what Zion has told you about the fal'Cie, but I do know what you have all been told since birth about us. I am also well aware of what happened to you at the hands of Anima and Barthandelus. For their actions, on behalf of all surviving fal'Cie, I would like to offer my most sincere apologies." He bowed at the group as he said this, a gesture that was generally a sign of submission.

"I must also apologize for one other thing. You see, what happened to Fang and Vanille was partially my fault. I had, along with some other fal'Cie, attempted to stop Barthandelus' plans at summoning Ragnarok five hundred years ago. Zion's original Focus was a part of this attempt. Unfortunately, we were too late, and though we stripped the creature of its power, it still damaged Cocoon. As a result of this attack, and our split with Barthandelus, a massive war broke out here on Pulse. When all was said and done, we lost that war, and were forced into exile. When all of you banded together and defeated the oppressive fal'Cie, we believed it was safe to return, and so we did. Unfortunately, we also found out about a greater problem than the one Barthandelus ever was, and that is why Zion has been brought back, and why he has asked for your help."

Blaine paused for a few minutes as he looked over the group once again. "You know, I just realized, I'm forgetting something." He looked up at the pillar behind him, then back at the group. "I am aware that you are missing your friends, so it is only appropriate that you get the chance to see them, since you came all this way."

As he spoke, he began to glow a bright white light. A beam of white light shot out from him directly overhead to the crystal covering Cocoon. It appeared for a minute as if the entire crystal structure began to glow, and suddenly two beams of light shot out of the pillar on either side of the fal'Cie. The light, along with the pillar's glow, forced everyone to turn their heads and shield their eyes.

After almost a minute, the glow began to subside, and after another minute, the group was able to see once again. They immediately noticed that Blaine was no longer standing in front of the pillar. Also, where the two beams of light had struck the ground, there now stood surprised and confused two female warriors that everyone recognized. Fang and Vanille had once again been awakened.

_A/N: Well, I'm afraid there's not much I can say about this chapter. Next time, we'll find out about Fang, Vanille, and Zion's past, their connections to each other, and just WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BHAKTI!? (cuz I know you guys are all dying to figure that one out.) But yeah, there's going to be a LOT of explaining going on next time, and a little bit of action._

_In the meantime, as always, reviews, comments, and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Gracias!_


	5. Revelations

_A/N: Well, I said this was going to be a long chapter and it's the longest one I have on here, at least in this story anyway. As the title says, a few things are explained, specifically events leading up to the War of Transgression._

_Disclaimer, though I don't know if I really need to keep repeating myself: I don't own Final Fantasy._

**Chapter 5- Revelations**

"What happened? Where are we?" Vanille was obviously confused, and Fang didn't look like she knew much more than her companion. The two women looked exactly as they had before they entered stasis, including wearing the exact same clothes.

Hope couldn't believe that his friend was standing before him, and it took him a second to shake off his shock. Once he did, however, he was easily the first to welcome the two, running up to Vanille and giving her a hug so tight that she couldn't react even if she wanted to. "Vanille! Welcome back!" He was crying, but it was tears of joy, not sadness. Eventually, the young lady was able to recover, and returned his enthusiastic hug.

Lightning approached Fang and held out her hand to her friend. "It's good to see you again."

Fang took the offered hand, but pulled her into a hug, though nowhere near as crushing as the one the younger pair was sharing. After a few seconds, she had to ask the one question that had been on her mind since she woke up. "How long were we in stasis?"

"About fourteen months." Snow gave Fang a hug as well, and was followed by Sazh and finally Hope. The other three also gave Vanille hugs as well, with Dajh joining in. After all, it was because of him that Sazh and Vanille had been captured by Nabaat in Nautilus, and even though he didn't know the implications of what he'd done, he knew it wasn't anything good.

Serah, for her part, allowed the others to enjoy the reunion, but Vanille spotted her shortly. She ran up to the Farron girl and gave her a big hug. "Hey, Serah. I'm so sorry. About everything."

Serah returned the hug, but stepped away to look her in the eyes before responding. "I know, Vanille. You don't need to apologize. What happened is as much my fault as yours." The pink haired teenager smiled and hugged Vanille again.

Fang and the others had been busy watching Vanille and Serah's interactions as well as having their own private conversation, and as such, they didn't notice Zion's presence until Fang brought it up. "So, who do we have to thank for bringing us back? I mean, aren't the fal'Cie all gone?"

"Oh, that would be Zion." Hope was glad to offer the information. He assumed that Fang would be happy to hear that someone from Pulse had survived besides Vanille. He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Zion?" Fang's expression instantly became darker, and the mention of the name had gotten Vanille's attention as well. She looked around worriedly, wondering where he was if he was indeed here.

Draco snorted from his position, drawing everyone's attention there. Fang's frown became filled with anger. "You.... TRAITOR!" She ran at Zion, her spear ready to strike him down. Zion was caught by surprise, and was barely able to duck her wild swing, but he came up drawing his sword to block the next pair of strikes from the enraged Pulsian. He retaliated, striking at her, but it quickly became apparent to Lightning, Snow, and Sazh that he wasn't trying to injure his opponent, only disarm her.

That didn't stop Vanille from worrying, however. "Fang!" She started to go break up the fight, but Hope grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She looked at him and he shook his head at her.

As if in confirmation that she should stay put, Zion called to her as he dodged another somewhat wild swing by Fang. "Stay out of this, Vanille." He brought his sword down aiming at Fang's head, but she blocked it once again with her spear. The others are too stunned by this turn of events to even try to break it up, and unsure whether they even should. After all, why would Fang call Zion a traitor?

The two Pulsians continued their fight, but it was becoming clear that Zion wasn't as aggressive as he could be, and that Fang was probably not going to win the fight. Indeed, after some maneuvering Zion brought his sword down at Fang once again, which forced her to block with her own weapon. As soon as the weapons clashed, Zion switched his position, bringing the sword up underneath the spear, forcing Fang to let go with one hand. As he did so, he spun around and launched a fire spell into Fang's chest. His sword strikes had knocked her off balance, and the spell sent her sprawling onto the ground.

Before she could react, Zion had kicked her spear away from her and was now pointing the tip of his sword right at her neck. It was at this point that most of the others noticed something they'd never seen from Fang, genuine fear. Sure she'd been afraid, but she'd also had confidence and hope to go with it. But this time was different and for the first time she was truly afraid.

Before anyone could think anything else, Vanille's scream forced everyone to look at her. She had begun to move toward Zion and Fang, but had been stopped when Draco stepped in front of her, his nose billowing smoke, and his eyes looking at her as if he was ready to strike her down. "Draco!" The dragon turned his attention to his master. "You should know better than that! Get out of here, go hunt something!" Zion's scolding stopped the monster, and with a snort, it spread its wings and took to the skies.

Zion's gaze turned back to Fang, who was so much in shock that she hadn't taken the opportunity that her opponent had been distracted to escape his wrath. He glared at her angrily as he began to speak. "And you, after everything you've seen, everything you've done, you still call ME a traitor?" His voice, like his expression, was one filled with anger, but as he spoke, it became apparent that there was some sadness in it as well. "You were the one who was used as a pawn in an attempt to cause a massacre, to destroy the world! I would have thought that you would have learned from your mistakes, but it appears I was wrong." He sighed and sheathed his sword, before continuing, more to himself, though he was aware that Fang could hear him. "It was a mistake for me to hope that you could help."

He turned at this and walked away, but as he passed Vanille, she grabbed his arm. "Zion?"

The l'Cie looked at her and smiled. "You were always the more reasoning of the two. I knew you'd understand my reasons. But right now I have a job to do, and I have neither the time nor the energy to waste with fighting her." Vanille nodded and stepped back, joining the others. Zion watched her for a second then flashed a small smile and started to leave, but his right arm was grabbed by Fang, causing him to spin around and stare at her.

"You're right. I made a mistake. I had unquestioning faith in Anima and it cost me, it cost us all. But you were the one who left us, we didn't leave you. When you went and _volunteered_ to become a l'Cie of another fal'Cie, you spat on everything your family believed in, everything it stood for. So yes, I'm sorry for what I did, but you can't say that you are innocent in it." Fang's speech was soft, it was obvious that the emotions she was displaying now had been simmering for a long time. And as she finished, tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"You're right, as well. I did leave everyone and everything I'd ever cared for behind. And for that, I'm sorry." Zion moved his arm, grabbing Fang by the wrist and pulling her to him. He wrapped his arms around her as she began crying into his chest, holding him close, as if she'd never get the opportunity to do so again.

The others watched this exchange, but Hope was the first one to really comment on it. "Wow, you know, they really make a cute couple, don't they?"

Lightning, standing to his right, snorted at his comment, a sign that Hope wasn't sure if it meant that she agreed with it or if she was unhappy about it. It was Vanille that spoke though. "Couple? You mean like...... Oh, no, they are nothing like that."

Lightning spoke up now. "What do you mean, Vanille? They look like they have a pretty close relationship to me."

Vanille looked at her, wondering what she meant. It took her only a second to realize though. "Oh, he didn't tell you? Zion's full name is Oerba Yun Zion, like Fang's full name is Oerba Yun Fang."

Snow was curious now. "So what, they're married?"

Vanille laughed a little, the conversation had now gotten the attention of the black-haired Pulsians as well. "No, Zion and Fang are brother and sister. He is our older brother."

Zion immediately caught Vanille's word choice. "Wait, '_our_ older brother?'" He turned to Fang. "So, they actually went through with it?"

"Yeah, a couple years after you left us, the paperwork was completed. It was decided that she keep her birth name, no sense in the entire clan dieing when one of its members still survived, after all."

Sazh had been quiet since the Pulsians had appeared, but now he had to speak up. "Wait, what exactly is going on here? First you two are fighting, then you're all loving. Vanille says you two are siblings, then she says she's your sister too?"

Fang and Zion both laughed slightly at the comments of the older man. Fang took the opportunity to explain, after she stepped away from her brother. "Well, Sazh, it's like this. Vanille's parents died when she was only six and our family took care of her from that point forward. It had been discussed by our parents whether or not she should be officially adopted into our family, and eventually it was decided she should. Unfortunately, five hundred years ago, things were a little different, and it was actually a bit of a process to go through, but in the end, she was adopted in, and became my sister, as well as Zion's, I suppose."

Zion nodded, but he couldn't stay silent. "Yes, and as far as our argument earlier, that is a difference in philosophy. Fang followed the teachings of our family religiously, and among those teachings is that anyone who becomes a l'Cie for a fal'Cie other than the one you pray to, then that person is guilty of treason against your clan. Our family, our clan, like all the others in Oerba, worshiped Anima. So, when I became a l'Cie to Blaine, it was like I had shunned everything and everyone I'd ever known. Because of this, I became an outcast, and I haven't seen my family since then because of it."

"You know, Zion, you never did tell us why you volunteered." Fang was somewhat curious about this, even though she already had some idea.

Zion sighed and looked around. "Well, it really is a bit of a story. Why don't we make camp and have something to eat, then I can tell it."

Serah had to speak now. "I thought we were leaving once we talked to Blaine."

Everyone looked around, just now noticing that Blaine had disappeared. "Where'd he go, anyway?" Snow had to ask.

"Bringing Fang and Vanille back from their slumber would have taken a lot of energy. Odds are it'll be a while before he gains it back. I'm guessing he'll wait until morning to give us the information we need."

The group started to make a camp out of the clearing. Nobody had thought to bring any blankets or tents, so it was decided that they would sleep on the ground that night. Lightning, Snow, and Sazh had gone into the woods to find something to eat, while the rest got the camp in order as best they could. As Fang, Vanille, and Zion started to make a fire, Fang ran their fight through her mind. It was then she suddenly realized that he'd used magic in his fight with her. "So, you're a l'Cie again? What's your Focus this time?"

"Yes, I'm a l'Cie. I always will be, as will you." Zion pointed at the mark on Fang's shoulder. "By the way, you should check Vanille's mark, just to be safe."

"Safe from what?" Fang nonetheless complied with the request, and noticed that like her mark, it had been burned and scarred. The look she gave Zion asked without saying a word, _What the fuck is going on?_

Zion laughed lightly at his sister's confusion. He'd already explained to the others, but he knew that Fang didn't know. "When a l'Cie completes their initial Focus, they go into crystal stasis. When they are brought out, their brand is scarred. This means that the clock is stopped and that they will never be at risk of becoming Cie'th. You can still use all of the abilities you could before. And even though you don't have a Focus, you will never have to worry about transforming."

Zion looked at his forearm before he continued. "But you're right, I was given another Focus. Barthandelus' demise has opened the door for something else to come and try to destroy the world. I've been asked to put a stop to it." Vanille put the last stick in the wood pile and looked at Zion. She'd been listening to the conversation, and was now curious if he was right. Zion nodded and she held out her hands. Instantly a fireball erupted from them and struck the wood, and in a few seconds a roaring fire was going. She smiled and Zion laughed at her innocence. "It's good to see you haven't changed much, though you've grown quite a bit."

"Well, I was only eleven when we last met. I would hope I've grown a little bit, since I had five years on you."

"So that's why Fang looks to be the same age even though you say he's older?" The group hadn't heard Lightning and the others re-enter the clearing, but they weren't too shocked to hear her ask the question.

It was Fang who replied, though. "Yes. Bloody fal'Cie gave him his Focus five years before we received ours. Never did find out if he had succeeded or not, though." Fang noticed suddenly that the group appeared to have returned empty handed. "Trouble finding food?"

"There's nothing around here that I'd consider worth eating." Snow looked at Fang with some measure of disgust. "But then again, I'm not an expert on Pulse creatures, so I wouldn't know what is edible anyway."

Zion laughed at Snow's statement. "Most of the creatures here are edible. The biggest problem will be catching and killing them." As he said that a large bird fell to the ground, near the pillar, away from where anyone was standing. Everyone's attention immediately turned to the bird, looking at it as if they were waiting for a fight. After it didn't move for a few seconds, the group moved closer and noticed that the bird was already dead, its throat had been slashed by some sort of claw. "Looks like Draco's hunting for us as well as himself."

"You're not seriously thinking of cooking and eating that, are you?" Snow wasn't sure if he wanted to even consider that possibility.

"Well, it's not the best meat in the world, but at least it's not chocobo." Zion was completely unaware of the critter that Dajh had been playing with until it chirped at his comments. This sound caught Zion's attention, as did Dajh's scream, as he ran to his father. "What's wrong, little guy?"

Dajh was now sitting in his father's lap, his face buried in his shoulder. Out of Dajh's hand, a small chocobo chick flew up and settled into the large afro that Sazh wore. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had one as a pet. If it makes you feel any better, I don't like to eat chocobo. I did so once, the place I was at at the time considered it a delicacy, though I really didn't like it. Besides, I'd never hurt a friend if I could help it."

Dajh had quit crying at Zion's apology, but he wasn't going to turn and look at the offending man just yet. Sazh was slightly more forgiving though. "It's all right. I know that there are some areas that do raise chocobos for food, but it's not something that I thought that he needs to be troubled with, so he didn't know."

Zion bowed and looked back at the dead bird. "Well, there should be more than enough there for all of us. I just hope it doesn't offend your stomachs too much, it's not the best meat." He turned and walked toward the bird to start cutting the edible portions off of it so that it could be cooked.

As the group set about preparing their dinner, a loud chirping was heard, and a small robot came out from the forest. Vanille immediately recognized it, even though it had obviously been worked on. "Bahkti! What are you doing here?" The robot continued to squeak as it rolled up to the redhead. Before it got all the way to her, however, it noticed Zion standing nearby. Looking at him, a holographic display appeared above its head, with one word repeated: "TRAITOR!"

"Hey! How dare you, you little.." Zion yelled at the little robot menacingly, causing it to beep and quickly roll behind Vanille, making the other members laugh at the antics of the toy.

"Bahkti, he's not an enemy anymore. You should probably apologize." Bahkti looked up at Vanille, and cautiously rolled out from behind her, posting "Sorry!" in it's hologram display then hiding back behind Vanille.

Zion himself was laughing at the robot at this point. "All right, Tiny, you're forgiven. I don't think that you should be sticking around here, though. It might be a good idea for you to go back home and wait for us all to return, all right?" The robot looked at Zion, then at Vanille, who nodded. It beeped again and took off back into the forest, heading back the way it'd come, and the humans went back to getting dinner ready.

A couple hours later, everyone had had their fill. Fang had wandered off while the food was cooking and returned with water and fruits for everyone to have with their meal. Now they sat around the fire, telling stories and making jokes to each other. Dajh had already fallen asleep in his father's arms. Hope had put his arm around Vanille, and she was laying her head on his shoulder. Snow and Serah were laying against a large log that the group had found and brought into the clearing for use as a seat, or at least the back of one. Fang sat next to Vanille, with Sazh next to her, and Lightning was situated between Hope and Zion, with Zion next to Snow.

"So, Zion, you said you'd tell us about your original Focus." Sazh had to go and ruin the moment. Zion was hoping that they'd forgotten, because it really wasn't something he was looking forward to sharing. He knew that he would need to do so eventually, of course, so he sighed and decided to go ahead and do so.

"Well, to start, I suppose I need to give you guys a little bit of Pulsian history, or at least its legends. You see, there are quite a few stories about what happened here long ago, but nobody knows for sure whether or not any of it is true. The first topic is the fal'Cie themselves. As you know, they serve many functions, from providing food and energy to controlling how you live and where you can go. Generally speaking, the fal'Cie classify themselves into two categories, supporters and governors.

"The supporters are the ones like Carbuncle, Atomos, and Kujata. They provide energy or food, or keep life moving. They rarely interact directly with humans and almost never take l'Cie." He looked at Sazh when he spoke this last bit. "That's why I was surprised to hear that Kujata had taken your son as one, though now I know why."

Fang spoke up at this point. "I know I said it before, but I'm sorry about all of that Sazh. It was never our intent to get anyone else involved in our mess."

"I know you weren't. You did what you thought you needed to do to survive."

Zion smiled slightly and continued his history lesson. "The governors are fal'Cie like Barthandelus, Anima, and Blaine. These fal'Cie are more likely to interact with people and usually try to control them. Some, like Blaine, will try to keep people out of danger by making people disappear from certain areas. Usually these people are turned into l'Cie and given some sort of task that is easily accomplished. They are then rewarded with crystal stasis. Generally speaking, these fal'Cie are kind and the l'Cie they take are voluntary.

"But then there's the fal'Cie like Anima and Barthandelus. These governors will do whatever it takes to ensure that their goals are met. They are generally power hungry and see humans as merely a means to an end. The l'Cie they take are typically done so against their will, which is something that Blaine and those like him grew to despise."

Zion had to pause for a minute to collect his thoughts. As he did so, he looked around to make sure everyone was following his explanation. Realizing they were, he continued his story. "There is an old legend, I don't know if it exists on Cocoon, but it always has been on Pulse. 'The fal'Cie will attempt to force the Maker's return. The brains will direct the people to the slaughter, and the protector will choose the weapon of fate. The people of the false planet will have their fates sealed, and the people of Pulse shall be set free.'

"Now, considering everything that's happened, it really didn't take much for someone who was knowledgeable of the fal'Cie hierarchy to figure out that the brains was Barthandelus. He was always scheming and trying to gain more power. The protector was a little bit harder to uncover. There were many governors who would fall under that title, including Blaine, Eden, and, Anima. Someone somewhere did research on this legend, and came to believe that the weapon of fate would come from Oerba, since it was the town that was closest to Cocoon. I realized that the weapon of fate that was being talked about was Ragnarok from other stories that were passed down, as well as my own research into the matter, and I knew that it would take a great warrior to become Ragnarok.

"With this knowledge, I was put into a peculiar situation. At the time, there were only two people in Oerba who were capable of becoming this weapon, Fang and myself. I also knew that neither of us would willingly destroy millions of people, even if we thought we were doing so to save Pulse. I was approached by Blaine who requested of me that I find out if this legend was true. He wanted me to go and find out if Barthandelus was planning on bringing back the Maker by destroying Cocoon. I realized that if that was the case, and his plans could be foiled, then Ragnarok wouldn't appear, so I agreed."

"And in doing so, you made certain that you wouldn't become Ragnarok yourself." Snow wasn't sure if he liked where this story was going. Not that anyone could blame him. For all intents, it appeared that Zion was taking a cowardly way out of fate and forcing it upon his sister. Zion could only smile, as Lightning asked a question before he could continue.

"Why would they send someone with your skills on a recon mission? It seems like it would be a waste of a warrior."

"Normally it would have been, but the information that Blaine needed was in the possession of Barthandelus himself, which meant that I had to go into the city of Eden to retrieve it. I did so willingly because I believed that if I was successful, Ragnarok would never be needed, and I could spare Fang and Vanille a terrible fate." Fang and Vanille both gasped at this revelation. They had never stopped to think that he had volunteered to become a l'Cie to save them from becoming l'Cie themselves. Suddenly Fang was somewhat overcome with guilt at her earlier outburst, though she tried her best to hide it.

"Unfortunately, although I was successful, by the time Blaine was able to realize that it was indeed that legend that Barthandelus was working toward, it was too late. He and the fal'Cie who shared his view on humanity worked together to stop Ragnarok from destroying Cocoon by sealing away its power and turning you two into crystal. This, of course, pissed Barthandelus off, and he declared war on the fal'Cie who opposed him. In the resulting battle, Blaine and his allies were beaten and forced into exile. It wasn't until he was defeated by you all that it was safe for them to return here."

"I..... I'm sorry. I had no idea you......." Fang was muttering almost to herself, it didn't seem that she was aware that everyone could hear her. Tears were once again falling from her eyes, and Vanille was quick to try to comfort her.

Zion stood up and moved to do the same, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know. I didn't want to tell you about it. I would have rather had you live your life hating me than feeling guilty about my sacrifice." Fang looked at him and nodded, then turned and hugged him, crying once more.

"You said that you knew Fang would be the one to become Ragnarok, but you also said I was in danger as well. Why is that?" Vanille had been considering that question since Zion had brought the subject up, but only now could she consider asking it.

"You and Fang were always inseparable. I knew that if she became l'Cie that you'd be standing right next to her. I don't know what your Focus was, though, and if you don't know it, I suppose we never will. It's good to see that you completed it, though." He smiled at his sister. Even though he'd considered her as such for as long as he could remember, having it be official was still a little strange to him.

A yawn from Sazh seemed to break everyone out of their thoughts. "Well, kids, I'm beat, I think it's about time for me to head for bed." Sazh laid down and could soon be heard snoring.

Zion laughed a little bit at the old man and stood up. "He's right, you all need sleep." He turned and walked toward the woods away from the pillar.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Lightning was standing and asking questions before he could get too far.

"I figured I'd take the first watch. I've slept for five hundred years so I'm pretty well...." Before he could finish his statement, a loud roar was heard behind him. He turned around just in time to be launched into the air as a behemoth jumped out of the trees to attack him. He sailed over Lightning's head, rolling and skidding after he landed, and finally coming to a rest near the crystal pillar.

The beast roared again, and everyone except the still sleeping Sazh got into a battle stance. Before any real fight could begin, another roar was heard, and from the sky came a brown creature. The creature tackled the behemoth and the two rolled into the woods and out of sight of the humans. They realized what had happened, and all of them went to see if Zion needed help. He was laying down, coughing slightly and sporting several cuts, including a rather large one on his forehead, but he appeared to be all right. As the growls and other sounds of fighting continued to be heard from the woods, Vanille cast cure on Zion, healing most of his wounds in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks." He paused as a loud howl was heard, and the Behemoth came flying back into the clearing. This time, however, it didn't land on its feet, but rather on its face, as it slid to a stop near the other end of the clearing. Once it came to a stop, it didn't move, its neck broken, and several cuts on its face, neck, and chest, evidence that it had been killed. From the direction the beast had come, Draco appeared, sporting a small cut on his neck, but otherwise appearing unharmed. Vanille cast a quick cure on the dragon, who snorted in response, then grabbed the corpse of the fallen monster and drug it back into the woods.

"Looks like he's found his dinner." Zion smirked as everyone looked at him, then he sat down next to the log that Snow and Serah had been leaning on earlier.

"Well, I think maybe I should take first watch. You don't appear to be in much condition to do so anymore." Fang smiled at him and spun her spear. "I'm going to get some more water, and I expect everyone to be sleeping when I get back." With that, she disappeared into the forest. Everyone agreed that it was definitely time for rest, and most of them laid down wherever they could find enough space. Lightning, however, just sat on top of the log, next to Zion.

Zion looked at her as she sat there staring at the fire. "You know, that was rather careless of me, wasn't it?"

His statement seemed to break the trance she was in. "What?"

"Letting my guard down and being surprised by that damn creature. It was careless and stupid of me."

"No. You said yourself that the energy emitted by these crystals generally keeps creatures away from the area. You had no reason to think you'd be attacked, especially with this many people around."

Zion smiled at her statement. If a hardened soldier was saying that he didn't do anything wrong, he probably didn't. "Thank you, Lightning. Good night." Zion laid down and closed his eyes, and turned so that his back was to the fire.

Lightning couldn't help but smile at her new companion as she laid down on the log. "Good night, Zion." She quickly found herself drifting off to a relatively peaceful sleep herself.

_A/N: Next up, the morning after! Oh, and an explanation on the Focus, and some decisions that need to be made by the heroes._

_Also, I suppose now that I've introduced all of the main characters, I should probably tell you all of their ages, since some things that happen may be age-related. Note: These ages are the time they spent outside of stasis. Zion, Fang, and Vanille all spent 500 years in crystal stasis, but didn't age a day during that time._

_Zion: 26_  
_Lightning: 24_  
_Fang:24_  
_Hope: 15 (probably will become 16 during the story at some point)_  
_Vanille: 18 (was going to have her at 16, but I thought that there would be too much difference between her and Fang if I did)_  
_Sazh: 36_  
_Snow: 21_  
_Serah: 20_  
_Dajh: 5_

_Note: Zion is actually seven years older than Fang, but he spent five years more in stasis than she did, which allowed her to catch up._

_As always, I love to hear from my readers! Please review and tell me if I fuck up!_


	6. Focus Explained

_OK, chapter six is here! We're going to have a few more revelations, and some of an explanation of the Focus Zion was given._

_Oh, and before I begin, I want to thank Hydronix/Deviot for being a grammar nazi, Terri for being someone I can bounce ideas off of, and Ian(Because he doesn't like me calling him Digifanatic) for putting up with all of my insane ramblings and other bullshit._

_Disclaimer: I still wish I could at least have a few shares in Square Enix! But since I don't I can't claim ownership of Final Fantasy._

**Chapter 6- Focus Explained**

When Lightning woke up the next morning, she noticed that almost everyone at the camp was still asleep. In fact, the sun hadn't come up over the horizon yet, though its light was beginning to show. The only person awake was Sazh and that's because he was keeping watch over the camp. She did notice almost immediately that Zion was nowhere to be seen. Her soldier's instincts kicked in and she grabbed her gunblade before walking over to the guard.

Sazh must have heard her coming because he spoke before she could even get to him. "Zion's in the forest. Don't know what he's doing there, but he's not too far off. I can occasionally hear him." Lightning was silent for a moment, then she heard a rustling off in the distance. It sounded like someone was up in the trees, but she couldn't be sure. Sazh had been watching longer than she had, and he did know. "He's been up there for most of the night. Don't really know why, he didn't say anything when he walked past me."

"It's a good vantage point, though I doubt that's why he's up there, especially if you're standing watch."

"No, I bet that the branch may be a little more comfortable than the cold ground, though. Maybe that's why he's up there." Lightning shrugged her shoulders and looked around the camp. The fire had mostly died down by now, but the rising sun's rays were beginning to light the area, and she noticed that the giant bird they'd cut and cooked last night had been picked even more clean since they went to bed. Lightning figured it was probably Draco who was responsible, though at this point it was only a guess. It made her wonder, though, what the creature had done with the behemoth he'd killed earlier in the evening.

A low growl came from within the woods, and Lightning and Sazh turned toward the sound, drawing their weapons. For a few minutes, there was only silence, then the growling came again, followed by a loud rustling of tree branches, as about two hundred yards in, the trees moved as something took to the sky. After thirty seconds of waiting, Zion dropped down to the ground in front of the two stunned warriors, almost causing them both to either fall over from shock or attack him on the spot.

Zion only smiled at them, then bowed his head slightly. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you knew I was up there."

Sazh dusted himself off. Zion had nearly landed on him, and in his surprise, he'd fallen over. "Yeah, we did, but we weren't expecting you to appear like a damn ninja or something."

Zion chuckled silently and shook his head at Sazh's comments. "Force of habit, I'm afraid. I usually work alone, and as such, anyone else around is usually a potential enemy. I've learned the element of surprise is a great asset, though, it can be a detriment when used against my allies."

"I take it that was Draco that just took off?" Lightning pointed behind Zion into the forest, which caused him to glace behind him for a second.

"Yes, he's off stretching his wings or something. Unfortunately, for safety reasons, he's rarely allowed off his leash, so to speak, so being able to roam freely all night long has been a real treat for him."

Zion smiled at Lightning and Sazh, before nodding and walking past them into camp. As he did, the two noticed that he had a small bag of sticks strapped to his back, and he began to get the fire going once again. The pair of Cocoon residents walked over and knelt next to him to help with the fire. When they were done, Zion looked sat back and stared at the sky for a few seconds. "You know, despite all the time I spend out here in nature, its quite rare that I get to actually appreciate how beautiful it is."

Lightning laughed lightly at his comment. "I suppose it would be even more beautiful without the small planet covering half the sky, right?"

"No, Cocoon is beautiful in its own right. Even before I was able to go inside it, I always thought so." A rustling sound to the left caught their attention, and they quickly noticed that Fang was starting to stir. "It won't be long before the rest of the camp is awake. I imagine that Blaine will be back sometime before noon as well."

"So, what do we have for breakfast then?" For some reason, Zion didn't find it odd that Sazh was thinking with his stomach. Lightning giggled a little at his comment, but wasn't surprised either.

"Unfortunately, I don't know. It seems Draco did a number on our leftovers." Zion pointed to the pile of bones near the pillar. "And I didn't bring any supplies with me."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. I thought he would have eaten the behemoth he killed." Sazh didn't seem to know any more about it than Lightning did.

"He probably did, but behemoths are a lot of bone, and their meat is quite tough. I don't think Draco ate all of it, especially once everyone in the camp fell asleep."

Vanille groaned softly, causing the three to notice that she was waking up as well. By now Fang had become more aware of her surroundings, and had come over to sit near the fire. "Morning, everyone."

"Sleep well?" Zion had a bit of a playful smirk on his face which didn't go unnoticed. Lightning and Sazh were well aware that she wasn't fond of roughing it, and apparently so was her brother.

"Better than I'd expected, though I'm a little stiff today." Fang began rubbing her right shoulder, which she'd fallen asleep on the previous evening. The other three smiled and Sazh even chuckled a little bit at her reaction.

Within the next hour, everyone woke up and many of them asked the same questions that had already been asked. Soon after Vanille had awakened, she and Fang disappeared into the forest, though nobody had bothered to ask why. By mid morning, they came back with some berries and nuts, enough for the nine of them to at least have something in their stomachs. Draco had eventually landed near the edge of the clearing, sitting there as he silently watched over the group.

After they'd eaten, Lightning noticed Zion rubbing his left forearm. "What's wrong with your arm?"

"Hmm?" Zion looked down. He hadn't been aware he was rubbing it. "Oh, it's just burning a little bit. Blaine is nearby."

"I see you have all had a decent morning." Everyone turned to see the yellow fox leaning against the pillar, his arms crossed over his chest. Zion nodded to his friend, who walked down toward the group and sat to Zion's left. He picked up a few nuts that hadn't been touched yet and ate them. "Well, I suppose I owe all of you an explanation, don't I?"

"It would be appreciated." Fang was always to the point, even if she wasn't always honest. Zion shook his head at her, but Blaine laughed lightly.

"Of course, I also believe I owe all an apology, especially you two. Despite what Zion would have you believe, it was myself and the other fal'Cie who were trying to protect the people who failed their mission. And it was that failure that cause you two to become l'Cie. If we hadn't been too late five hundred years ago, you wouldn't have become Ragnarok then, and the six of you wouldn't have become l'Cie yourselves. So, on behalf of all of those with whom I work, I would like to extend our apologies for everything you have all had to endure.

"Unfortunately, there is still more work to be done. As you are aware, Barthandelus' plan was to destroy Cocoon and force the Maker to come back. Obviously he failed, and even if he had succeeded in destroying Cocoon, there is no guarantee the Maker would have returned. The fact is nobody knows for certain why the Maker left us to begin with, not even the fal'Cie. Those of you who were born here on Gran Pulse are more aware of the legends and stories than those raised on Cocoon, however." Zion, Fang, and Vanille nodded at Blaine's statements, but so far he wasn't saying anything the three of them didn't already know. The others, however were hearing some of this for the first time, so they were quite interested.

"The fact of the matter is this. The Maker was the one who is credited with the creation of Pulse. However, he is not the only one who was responsible. Some of those who helped him became corrupted and consumed by greed and power. Many of the legends say that the Maker ultimately banished those who had betrayed his ideals, but nobody knows for sure how or where they were banished. It is widely believed that Barthandelus was aware of the truth of the matter, at least more than the rest of us, and he was placed in charge of the governing fal'Cie because of his knowledge.

"There is a problem that we have noticed since our return to Pulse. There is an air of darkness over the land. This darkness, some of us have seen it before, when the Maker was still around, and that causes us much concern. Our own research into the planets history suggests that the Maker may soon try to return of his own volition, however, with this darkness, we are concerned that if he does return it is only to fall into a trap.

"Those who he once banished left human disciples here on Pulse, and though we tried to eliminate them, we never could be certain that we had succeeded. The fal'Cie have been weakened by the wars between ourselves and the humans, and are no longer capable of keeping this planet safe. That is why we have asked Zion to take on this Focus, and why I would ask for you to assist him." Zion was quite interested in what he was hearing. If even the fal'Cie didn't know for sure what was going on, how could he be expected to take on this task? The others who were seated around the fire listening to Blaine appeared to be torn, they knew what he was going to say now, and they were dreading it.

"Those of you who bear burned l'Cie brands are in no danger of becoming Cie'th. Those of you whose brands have been removed, you are once again normal humans. I can allow you to become l'Cie once again, but I cannot give you the guarantee that you won't become Cie'th. If you decide not to become l'Cie, you can still help Zion with his Focus, since you are all more than capable of handling yourselves even without those abilities. In the end, the decision is yours."

Everyone looked at each other. Fang, Vanille, Serah, and Dajh were already immune to becoming Cie'th, but nobody knew what their plans were. Snow, Lightning, Hope, and Sazh were not currently l'Cie, and to become l'Cie again would mean that they would once again be risking becoming Cie'th, something which none of them were comfortable with. Yet everyone knew, even if they weren't specifically told so, that if Zion failed, Pulse, and thus Cocoon, would be destroyed. Could they afford to sit back and do nothing?

"All right, I suppose I can't let you go off and try to save the world by yourself, can I, brother?" Fang was half joking in her comments, but everyone knew that she was serious in helping to keep the world safe.

Vanille nodded her acceptance. "Last time you tried to save us from our fates, but you couldn't change our fates any more than we can change yours. But if there's anything I can do to help you, I owe it to you to at least try. I'm in."

Serah looked at Snow, then at the Pulsians who had already agreed. "I owe you all so much, even if there isn't anything I can do to help, I feel the need to at least try. Nobody deserves to go through something like this alone."

Dajh wasn't sure what was happening, and looked at Sazh, who realized quickly that if what he'd heard was true, and that Dajh could still sense Pulse l'Cie and fal'Cie, then his ability would be quite useful to the others. "Well, if my son is going, I'm going with him. If that means I gotta be l'Cie so that I can protect him, sign me up."

Snow and Lightning had been staring at Serah since she'd spoken up. "I let you go alone once, I'm not going to do it again." Snow held his fiance tight and gave her a quick kiss.

"No way am I going to let you two go off without me to chaperone you! Besides, it's my duty to keep the world safe, and I wouldn't be doing my job if I sat back and let you do everything." Lightning smiled slightly as she spoke. Of all the former l'Cie, she had been the one who was the most saddened at the loss of her abilities.

Now all eyes were on Hope, who seemed to be deep in thought. "Well, I have no desire to have my life ruined again. But this last year, after everything I'd done with you guys, it just seemed.... boring, unsatisfying. Another adventure sounds like it might be fun. At least this time, I won't have to worry about being alone or helpless." He held out his left arm to the fal'Cie. "I'll take your mark, or whatever you want to give me, as long as it lets me feel alive again."

Lightning's smile left her face at Hope's statement. As close as they had been, she hadn't been aware that he felt something was missing after their adventures. She didn't have a chance to dwell on it long, however, as Blaine began to glow once again, and this time, the four humans glowed along with him. Tendrils snaked out from Blaine and captured the four within their grasp, wrapping around their bodies as they were marked with the brand of l'Cie. After about a minute, the glowing ceased, and the four fell to the ground, heaving and panting. Blaine himself seemed to be worn out from the experience as well.

"Well then, good luck to all of you. I suppose I should mention that I plan on keeping an eye on your progress, so don't be too surprised if we run into each other occasionally. Until then though..." Blaine bowed to the group and then disappeared in a flash of white light.

Lightning looked around at everyone else. "Well, where do we go now?" Like almost everyone, she knew now what the mission was, but had no idea how to go about completing it.

"We need to go to Eden." Zion was looking up at Cocoon as he spoke. "Barthandelus had more extensive records of pre-Cocoon Pulse than anyone. If there are any answers as to what it is we're looking for, they would be found where he used to reside."

"Eden? That place is a mess! What makes you think that even if there _are_ records that they'd still be readable?" Snow was as aware of the situation as anyone, and he didn't like that idea at all.

"There is a chance you're right, but as far as I'm aware, it's the best place to start looking. That said, if you have any better ideas, I'm open to suggestions." Everyone looked at each other as he spoke. Nobody liked the idea of going into a war zone, but at the same time nobody could think of any better idea at this point either.

"Dad, can we go to Euride while we're on Cocoon?" Dajh was almost pleading as he stood next to his father.

"I don't know, son. I don't like the idea of you being close to that fal'Cie again, but given what I've heard in the last couple of days..." Sazh was conflicted. He was once again a l'Cie, and he really didn't want to waste time taking his son on vacation, but he also knew that there was probably a reason he wanted to go so badly.

Zion seemed to pick up on this, as he walked over to the pair and knelt down in front of Dajh. Dajh shrank away from the stranger, but Zion just knelt there and smiled at him. "I tell you what. We're going to go to Eden first, but we'll probably need to head for Bodhum eventually. When we do we will stop at Euride if we have time. That is, of course, assuming your father will allow it."

Zion stood up and looked Sazh in the eyes. "I don't know why he wants to go there so badly. I do know that if the fal'Cie tries to hurt him or anything, I'll help you kill it. Nobody deserves to be a slave, especially not a kid."

Sazh's face brightened at Zion's words. If he was willing to step in and openly oppose a fal'Cie, maybe there was hope that going to the Gorge wasn't going to end so badly after all.

Zion started to walk toward Draco. "Well, pal, we should probably get going to Eden, right?" In response, the dragon snorted and breathed smoke at Zion, who immediately stopped dead in his tracks.

"Did he just...?" Vanille's question was cut off by Fang.

"Yes, I guess he doesn't want to go to Eden."

"Oh, damn." Zion cursed to himself slightly, though everyone else could hear it. "We can't go directly to Eden, at least not on Draco."

"Why not?" Serah voiced the question that most of the group was wondering about.

"Much like everything else on Cocoon, the gravity there is artificial. As such, there's a slight difference in the gravity fields of it and Pulse. The difference isn't normally noticeable, and airships are designed to compensate for the shift, but creatures, especially flying ones, will notice it a little bit. And if Draco's going to have nine people on his back, he's going to notice it a lot more than normal. It wouldn't be a good idea to warp directly in front of Eden and have him lose control and dump us from who knows how far up."

"So what are we going to do then?" Serah was still the one asking, everyone else could almost guess.

"Well, we'll have to come into Cocoon somewhere closer to the ground, like Nautilus or Palumpolum. Somewhere that there's a ferry service to Eden."

"Well, Nautilus would be your best bet, then. It is the new seat of government, and it has shuttles that run to almost every city and village in Cocoon." Sazh would know, since he's a pilot himself.

"All right then, we'll head for Nautilus. That all right with you?" The dragon nodded and got itself ready to accept passengers. "All right then, all aboard?" With that, everyone got on Draco, and after a few seconds of waiting, the dragon got his running start and took off for the small planet in the sky.

_Next up, the adventure really begins. The first steps on Cocoon, well, other than the little bit in Chapter 2._

_Before I go, since I thanked those who have helped and still are helping me with this story at the top of this chapter, I should thank the readers who have taken an interest in it here. So to Chera 83, thank you for the favorite! To Fury of the Freezing Flames, thank you for the review. I hope I can keep you happy with what's to come._

_Please review, comment, and give me suggestions!_


	7. The Adventure Begins

_A/N: OK, what to say today... I have nothing. At any rate, this chapter is the true beginning of the journey. I guess you could say that the first six chapters were the prologue. Oh, and by the way, I was WAY off on the amount of chapters I'm going to have. This story alone will have at least fifteen, and probably over twenty._

_Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything here except the characters I created, and the plot of the story._

**Chapter 7- The Adventure Begins**

It took almost an hour for Draco to get enough height to be even with Cocoon, and another hour to find an entry point into the world. They had already chosen to land near Nautilus in the Sunleth Waterscape. But they couldn't completely control where they came out within the area. As they went through the entry point, they couldn't help but realize that Draco was having trouble maintaining control over his flight. As they exited, he actually did lose control, and everyone, including Draco himself went tumbling through the trees and onto the ground.

Sazh, surprisingly, was the first to recover. He had held Dajh near him, making sure that he kept safe, even at Sazh's own peril. "Ugh, everyone all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Snow responded, as he helped Serah to her feet. Near them, Lightning had already gotten herself back up, and Hope and Vanille were a little bit further down the path the dragon's body had created as it fell.

Fang also was regaining her footing, and she looked around at everyone. "Has anyone seen Zion?"

Everyone looked around for the Pulsian, but nobody could seem to find him. Draco had apparently fallen off the edge of the path as the trail they'd landed on went around a curve. Lightning and Hope were the first to get to the edge of the path. Looking down, they couldn't find Draco anywhere, but at the bottom of the ravine sat Zion, looking up at them and shaking his head. He waved as he saw the pair, and began trying to climb his way back up to the trail.

As Zion got closer to the trail, the group standing at the top of the hill could hear him cursing to himself about being careless again. Once he reached the top Snow and Sazh helped him gain his footing, they had noticed already that although the trail itself was dry the ground near it was muddy. Hope looked at him, then back down the ravine before asking what was on his mind. "What happened to Draco?"

"I dismissed him." Zion held up the ruby charm, which was once again red. "After a spill like that he's going to need some rest anyway."

Vanille pushed her way past Lightning and Snow to stand next to Zion. "Are you all right? You need some help?"

Zion laughed at her a little bit and patted her on the head. "I'm fine, though I wouldn't mind taking a week at a spa when this is all over." He smiled and Vanille hugged her brother tightly as she started to laugh at his comment.

"But you never go to the spa!"

"No, but you two always enjoyed it, so it must be good for something, right?" Zion and the others began laughing as well, but the laughter was quickly cut off when a loud roar was heard in the distance.

"What was that?" Vanille seemed to be the most scared of all of them.

"I don't know, but we need to get moving. We should make it to Nautilus by nightfall if we stay on this trail and don't take too many breaks." It was already almost noon, and Lightning had to be the practical soldier. Even so, Zion nodded his agreement, and they started along the path.

"So, how far is it to Nautilus from here, anyway?" Vanille was apparently as curious as ever.

"I thought you would know, since you've been there before." Zion couldn't help but tease his little sister as she walked behind him with Hope.

"I was, but only once, and I don't think we took this path." Vanille was suddenly questioning herself as she looked around. The place did seem familiar, but at the same time it was different as well.

"It will be about five miles to get to the ferry to Nautilus." Lightning commented from the front of the group. Snow sighed lightly and slumped his shoulders at this news, which caused his fiance to mock him playfully. Fang and the others realized how far that was, and they also knew that Dajh wasn't going to be able to walk the entire distance.

"OK, that doesn't really help me, you know." Vanille was pouting now. She hadn't yet learned conversions from miles, which were the normal unit of measurement in Cocoon, to kilometers, which had been the standard on Pulse.

"It would be just over ten kilometers, if my memory and my math are accurate." Fang may not have paid attention in history, but she was quite good with math. Vanille's expression seemed to mirror Snow's as she realized what that meant, and much like Serah, Hope couldn't resist having some fun with her.

"Aww, come on, at least you get to walk with me, right?" Hope pushed her lightly, to which she smiled and pushed him back. Unfortunately, her push was a little harder than she'd intended, and he had to step to the side to avoid falling. In doing so, he stepped in the mud on the side of the path, and the ground under him began to give out. Before he could fall off the edge, he was caught by Fang and Snow, who helped him back onto the dried area. "Thanks guys." Hope nodded and ran back up to Vanille, who hadn't even noticed that he was no longer next to her.

"Those two are going to be a lot of trouble." Fang muttered almost to herself. Snow gave the Pulse warrior a small shove in her shoulder, and when she turned at him, he was smiling.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have it any other way, would you?" Fang smiled and nodded, then they all had to jog quickly to catch up to the rest of the group.

After about an hour, they had covered just over a mile, their progress had been slowed by various creatures that were indigenous to the area. By now, everyone was already getting a little tired, and it was decided that they could take a short break where they were currently at. Here, the trail appeared to have been cut into the side of a hill, rather than going straight over it. As such, even though there was still a ravine to the left of the path, to the right there was a grassy slope, which Vanille, Hope, and Dajh eagerly decided to use as a makeshift camping area.

"He seems to be taking it better this time." Snow remarked to Lightning and Sazh. Zion had gone into the ravine alone, presumably to get some food and maybe some water, as Light had mentioned a creek that ran near the trail.

"Yeah, well, he didn't lose someone close to him in the process of becoming l'Cie this time." Lightning remarked. She herself hadn't been to thrilled about being branded again, though she would never let anyone else know that.

Sazh sighed and rubbed his neck. He had been complaining that it was getting stiff soon after they landed, and even though Vanille had cast a quick cure spell on him, it seemed that the stiffness wasn't going away. "Well, we've all been down this road before, so we know what to expect. It's not like it was last time, where we were guessing about our futures, and our Focus."

Lightning nodded, but she wasn't entirely convinced. "We still face the same problem we did before, though. If we fail we will become Cie'th."

Serah put her arm around her sister, which startled the older girl since she hadn't realized she was even there. "You know none of us are going to let that happen right, Claire?" Lightning glared at her for using her birth name, something which she rarely let anyone call her. But the look in the younger woman's eyes softened Light's expression almost immediately.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm not sure if death is an easier path or not."

Snow spoke up at this point. "Then we'll just have to make sure we complete our Focus. Save the world, be unsung heroes once again, then fall into stasis until our services are needed the next time!"

Lightning smiled at her future brother-in-law. "Yeah, as long as I'm not forced to be next to you two while we're in stasis, that would be fine with me." The four of them laughed at this, until Fang walked up to them.

"We might have a problem."

Lightning looked at her with a sudden concerned expression on her face. Fang had decided to scout ahead and see what was farther up the path. Her coming back with that statement wasn't something anyone wanted to hear. "What's the problem?"

"There's tracks, about half a kilometer ahead. The tracks, they aren't from local wildlife, at least none that I've seen so far."

Snow was concerned by now as well. "Well, do you have any idea what made them?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say something from Gran Pulse." Everyone in the small group looked at Fang with concern at that statement. "The footprints are much bigger than anything we've seen. I'd imagine it looks like behemoth prints, but I can't be certain, since the prints of each species of behemoth is slightly different. I've seen those tracks on Gran Pulse, but I can't say for sure what it was."

Lightning sighed at the news. "It is possible. Although Eden bore the brunt of the Ark's invasion, many creatures appeared elsewhere in Cocoon. The military that is stationed here has been tasked with rounding up or killing any Pulse-born creatures they find." At Fang's concerned face, she elaborated. "If the creatures are taken alive, they are usually transported back to Pulse, or to the quarantine in Eden. Many of the larger ones are put down because it's too risky to try to take them alive. If it is a Pulse-born creature, we should try to find it."

Fang smirked at the last comment. "The tracks are a couple days old, so it's going to be hard to tell where the creature is now. That said, if it is a behemoth, it's probably going to find us." Memories of the previous night came to everyone's mind suddenly.

"Well, at least this time we know it's out there, so we shouldn't be taken by surprise." Snow was always the optimistic, and before anyone else could respond, he noticed Zion was climbing his way back up the ridge and went over to help him.

"Thanks." Zion pulled the makeshift bag he had borrowed from Vanille off of his shoulder. "I have some berries and a few pouches of water from that creek." He paused for a second before adding. "And I think we're being followed."

"Let me guess, behemoth?" Fang smirked at Zion's somewhat surprised expression at her question. "There's tracks not far from here. I'd say we're right in the middle of his hunting ground."

Zion sighed at this news, but nonetheless, walked over to the younger members of the group and sat down next to them, offering them some of the small fruits and a couple of water pouches he'd acquired. Serah failed to hold in a small laugh at Zion as he spoke with the kids, and although Fang wasn't surprised at his reaction, Snow and Lightning definitely were. "Uh, Light, what do you think is going through his head?"

Lightning shrugged, but Fang answered the question for Snow. "He knows that the behemoth is near, but there's not much that can be done about it right now. He's not going to worry the kids with what's ahead, especially if we can somehow avoid encountering it." Indeed, Zion appeared to be laughing and joking with Hope and Vanille, with Dajh climbing up onto the older man's lap and eating the berries that he was holding. It appeared that Zion was telling them an entertaining story, and although none in the older group could hear it, Fang was pretty sure it was about their time together as a family on Pulse.

The group started again after a few more minutes of rest. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, and as they made their way to the clearing that would take them to the ferry to Nautilus, they had only some more fights with local creatures. They stopped to rest about every hour or so, but only for ten minutes at the most before they continued on. When they were in sight of the clearing, Zion, who had taken the lead, stopped for a minute.

"What is it?" Lightning had been behind him this time around, with Serah and Snow behind her. Sazh and Dajh were in the back, with Fang, Hope, and Vanille in the middle of the group.

"Shh, listen for a minute." Zion was quiet as he spoke, but loud enough so that everyone in the group could hear him. As they stood there quietly, they realized that there wasn't any sound at all in the area.

"OK, I don't hear anything." Snow commented after a minute.

"Exactly." Fang whispered in his ear from behind him, which caused him to jump. Everyone started to laugh, but the looks on Fang's and Zion's faces quieted them down quickly."The birds have all gone silent. It's as if they're trying to hide from something."

Lightning was suddenly aware of what Fang meant. "We haven't encountered any creatures for a while, either." Zion nodded his confirmation at Light's statement. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and Zion's eyes went as wide as the gem in his pocket. Turning, Lightning saw a large boulder rolling down the sloped trail toward the group. "Run!" She almost yelled at everyone, and everyone made for the clearing ahead as fast as they could.

The boulder shifted as it hit the bottom of the slope at the edge of the clearing and rolled harmlessly away from the group. Unfortunately for them, right behind it came a very large and very angry behemoth. The massive creature jumped into the air, causing everyone to scatter as it landed almost right in the middle of where the nine l'Cie had been standing. This behemoth was much larger than a typical one. In fact, it was almost as big as Draco himself. It had a dark blue color, Lightning noted, and if that was typical of the other behemoths, that meant that this one was probably capable of water or ice magic.

The creature roared loudly as it charged at Fang, who was directly in front of it. She dodged to the side, and swung her spear around, barely clipping the beast as it continued its charge past her. Lightning, Hope, and Zion unloaded various elemental magic at the creature, though it appeared to not do much damage as it simply turned around and fired off a blue orb at Sazh, who was shooting at it with his twin pistols.

Sazh, like Fang, was able to dodge out of the way, but he grimaced as he looked behind him and noticed that the ground had been frozen solid. "Damn, Ugly's tryin' to make me an ice cube!" Sazh stood up and fired fire-element bullets at the creature. It appeared that the bullets damaged the beast, but in response, the beast fired a series of smaller blue orbs in the air. These orbs arced up, then came down all over the battlefield, forcing everyone to dodge out of the way or risk becoming frozen.

Vanille, for her part, had been trying to cast buffs on the group, but it appeared that she was having difficulty keeping up with the movements of six other combatants. Snow had begun sending fireballs at the beast, as Hope had backed off the attack and began to cast other spells on the creature. Fang had adopted a defensive stance, taunting and keeping the behemoth distracted. Serah had taken Dajh from his father when the behemoth had appeared and was now relatively safe far from the beast.

And so the battle continued. The behemoth would occasionally charge at someone, usually Fang, and attempt to knock them in the air. After that it was usually a few rounds of the large frost ball or the raining frost from above. Vanille would occasionally switch from buffs to healing, and Fang herself would switch from defense to offense periodically before switching back again.

After five minutes of fighting, the behemoth growled and began to glow. All attacks stopped at this, as everyone was well aware of what that meant. The beast stood up on its hind legs and pulled out of its back a bone sword, the blade of which was about seven feet long. Zion realized quickly that based on the design of the sword, it was probably double-edged. He shouted this information to his sister, who was closest to him, but the beast immediately attacked Zion, so he had no idea if she'd heard him or not.

A large thunderbolt struck the beast, knocking it down to one knee, just long enough for Zion to do something extremely risky. He took the opportunity of the behemoth's distraction to climb up on the creature's back, where he immediately impaled his sword. The beast howled in pain, and fell backwards, trying to crush Zion, but the l'Cie jumped out of the way, leaving his sword to be embedded further into the creature's back upon landing.

As he got to his feet, he realized he was next to Lightning, who had cast the thundaga spell. She looked at him with surprise and amusement. "Nice trick."

"Thanks, I just hope the bastard didn't break my sword this time." Zion was already preparing a fireball, and Light cast thunder once again on the beast as he let his spell go. The behemoth roared and jumped at the two casters, causing them to split up or be crushed by his weight. Fang was already running after the beast, attempting to strike it with her spear some more.

The creature stood up and turned to Zion, who realized too late that he was much too close to it. The beast grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up into the air. Lightning realizing that she couldn't cast any thunder spells without risking hitting Zion as well, switched to fire instead, pelting the back of the beast. The behemoth roared in pain and threw Zion into the air. Zion noticed that the creature was bringing up its sword to cleave him in half. He spun himself around in mid air and launched a powerful fire spell right in the beasts face. That, combined with Lightning, Hope, Vanille, and Snow, who had all begun to cast fire-based spells at the creature, finally managed to cause it to succumb to the onslaught.

The beast dropped its sword, then fell off to its left, blocking Fang and anyone else from seeing Zion land, though they knew that he had landed near the sword, if not on it. Everyone ran to see if their friend was all right. Lightning was the first to come around the side of the sword, and noticed that Zion was lying face down on the ground. She thought for a second he was dead, but as she started for him, he moved his arms to pick himself up, coughing and gagging as he did so. As everyone else joined Light, Zion rolled himself over and was now leaning against the side of the embedded sword. As he looked up at it, he coughing turned into laughter. "Well, that was a lot of fun, wasn't it?"

"Bastard." Lightning frowned and stormed off, toward the ferry dock. Snow and shook his head and, along with Hope, helped Zion back to his feet. Hope immediately cast cure on the older man, as well as everyone else who needed it. Serah ran up to the group and gave Dajh back to his father, before kissing Snow and running off after her sister. Snow immediately ran off after Serah, leaving Sazh, Dajh, and Hope with the three Pulsians.

"Well, that could have been worse, I suppose." Fang was looking at the sword that had almost killed her brother. "You might want to be more careful next time." Zion nodded to his sister, then turned back to the dead behemoth.

He walked around the beast and grabbed his sword. It took him a few seconds, but he was eventually able to pull it out of the thick hide of the creature. Kicking it in aggravation he sighed and wondered out loud. "Are there any _normal_ sized creatures left in the world?"

"There are, but most of them are hiding from the big nasties like this bad boy here." Fang smiled as she kicked the behemoth's head, then began walking to the ferry, followed by the others. Zion stared at the creature for a few more seconds, then ran after the rest.

_A/N: Next time, a night in Nautilus. Yes, they will be staying the night there, though I don't plan on writing any sex scenes yet, there will be some..... interesting happenings. Also, I will be getting around to eventually explaining why Cocoon is still inhabited and why there are fal'Cie still within it._

_Please keep the reviews and comments coming!_


	8. One Night in Nautilus

_A/N: OK, Chapter 8. I wanted to put a little bit more into this chapter than I did, but I like how I ended it. The trade off is that the next chapter will be quite a bit shorter, probably about half as long as this one._

_Also, sorry for not updating last week. Just so you know, I will usually try to get one chapter of either this story or my other one up every weekend, but I didn't have much time to write with Memorial Day and my birthday all last week._

_Disclaimer: Don't own it._

**Chapter 8- One Night in Nautilus**

The group made their way to the ferry dock, which was through another short path. Thankfully, they didn't run into any more creatures during this stretch of the journey. It didn't take long for Zion to catch up to Lightning, who was in the front of the group, and was walking determinedly toward their destination. Zion decided he needed to talk to her, since it was apparent that she was upset about his reaction to the fight. "Hey, Light, sorry about earlier."

Lightning stopped and spun around to face him. She tried to hide her emotions, but he could tell there was anger and confusion racing through her mind. "Why were you laughing anyway? You think death is funny?"

Zion simply shook his head. "No, death isn't funny. Nothing about that fight was, really. It was more ironic." By now everyone else had caught up to the two and were listening in.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It seems ironic to me that we have been chosen to save a world that seems hell bent on destroying itself. Fact is, I've cheated death more times than I can count, and I'm sure everyone else here has too. When I look at the situation, like the one we just went through, I can't help but find it strange that I've survived, and the only thing I can do about it is laugh at the absurdity of it."

Lightning didn't really understand what he was saying, but she did now realize that he wasn't laughing because he was enjoying nearly dieing. That was enough to calm her down, the last thing she needed was someone in her group, particularly the one who was taking point on this mission, to have a death wish. She smiled lightly, then sighed and turned around. "We still have almost half a mile to go." With that, she started walking once again, though this time, not in such a hurry.

As the group reached the ferry dock, they noticed a pair of soldiers guarding the entrance. Vanille, aware of her previous trip to Nautilus, suddenly became worried about having to fight their way into the city. The soldiers, however, merely saluted at Lightning's approach. "Good evening, ma'am." Lightning saluted them back and the stepped aside, but the one who had spoke decided to ask a question. "If I may ask, isn't it beneath a Lieutenant to be escorting civilians in the Waterscape?"

Lightning just looked at the soldier. "These civilians are friends of mine, and I'm taking them on vacation." She motioned for the group to enter the dock, which everyone did except Vanille, who was still scared. Light walked up to her and smiled, which caused any fear the girl had to disappear and she bounded after the group. The soldier paused as she was even with the other two once again. "Be on your guard, the creatures have been more aggressive than normal during our trip here." And with that, she rejoined the others.

"Wow, I thought for sure we were going to be attacked by them!" Vanille was still a little shaken up, but glad to be away from the soldiers.

"Yeah, well, when Sanctum fell, the reorganized government decided that the wilderness areas, like Sunleth and Vile Peaks, should be open to the public, not reserved as secret military training grounds." Snow was proud of this fact, and it calmed Vanille down immensely. "Fact is there are really no travel restrictions in Cocoon anymore, though it is recommended that you have some sort of military escort when you are in the wilderness, since the local creatures are still likely to attack on sight."

Sazh, who had walked to the counter to inquire about the ferry's departure had returned as Snow was explaining to the Pulsians. "Well, the ferry will be leaving in ten minutes, so we should probably be boarding." He turned and walked toward the waiting ferry as the others followed.

The rest of the trip to Nautilus was fairly quiet and uneventful. It took almost an hour for the ferry to arrive in the city's dock, and everyone was glad to get off once it did. Vanille looked around the city, the memories of her last trip coming back to her as she giggled like a little girl. Sazh too, remembered coming here as a l'Cie, though for him, the memories of that day weren't quite so pleasant.

Serah walked over to the ticket area to inquire about passage to Eden as Fang and Zion looked around the city in awe. Neither of them had been here before, and like Vanille on her first trip, they were amazed at the sight, though they were somewhat nervous at the amount of people. It didn't take long for Serah to finish with the ticket counter, so the group was still somewhat together.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there won't be a shuttle leaving for Eden until tomorrow morning. The good news is that the hotel does apparently still have some rooms, even though there's a major concert going on tonight."

Nobody was really happy about having to stay the night in Nautilus, but there wasn't much choice. The group headed for the hotel, only to find there were only five rooms left, two with two beds and three with one. It had been decided that since they had all left suddenly and didn't have any supplies that they would all go shopping first, before deciding the room arrangements for the night. For the next couple of hours, the group went to various shops in Nautilus, getting various things, like clean clothes, hygiene products, and blankets, in case they needed to camp in the wilderness again. They also all picked up several rations of food for the journey ahead before meeting up for dinner at one of the many restaurants.

It was at dinner that they decided to take in the concert. They had been given discounted tickets when they got the rooms, and everyone was in the mood to relax for the evening. The concert ran until almost midnight, and once it was done, everyone was tired.

When they got back to the hotel it was time to divide the rooms. Vanille and Hope took a room with two beds, as did Sazh and Dajh. Snow and Serah took one of the single bed rooms, much to Lightning's disgust. Fang took one of the two remaining rooms, while Lightning took the other, leaving Zion without a room. The two females quickly realized that one of them was going to have to share with him, though neither was very happy about it. Before anyone could argue, though, Zion spoke up. "Lightning, you don't mind if I stay with you tonight, do you?"

Light was shocked. Why would he want to stay with someone he'd just met? Fang stood back, expecting her to blow up at him. "No way, Zion. I'm not sharing my bed with you. What are you some sort of a pervert or something?" It wasn't a complete blow up, like Fang had expected, but she was definitely offended.

"No, I'm not. If it makes you feel any better, I'll leave the bed to you and sleep in a chair or something."

"Then why me? Why my room?"

Zion smirked a little bit, which scared her and surprised Fang. "Two reasons. First, Fang snores. You were with her for almost three weeks, you should be well aware of that." Now Fang was offended, and Lightning blushed slightly. It was true that Fang snored, but nobody had been brave enough to call her on it. The dark-haired woman wasn't about to get into this conversation, though.

"And what's the second reason?" Lightning wasn't sure she really wanted to know the answer, but Fang's snoring wasn't going to be good enough of a reason, either.

"To be perfectly honest, given our history, the two of us don't trust each other. Add to that the fact that we're both liable to punctuate an argument with our weapons, and there's a good chance one of us will end up dead by morning. And even if we don't neither of us will get any sleep."

"I hate to say it, but the bloody prick's right." Fang decided she needed to defend herself a little bit against her brother's attacks. Zion glared at her and Lightning could swear he winked at his sister.

She could tell that there wasn't going to be a fight between the siblings right now, but she didn't want to put them in a situation where there could be one later either. "All right, fine. You can stay with me tonight. But stay off the bed, or you won't wake up tomorrow."

Zion bowed to the soldier slightly and entered her room. "Thank you for your kindness. Good night, sis." He waved at Fang and disappeared into the dark room, leaving the two women alone in the hall.

"He won't try anything, you know." Fang was trying to ease Light's obvious anger and nervousness. "He's probably just as worried about being in a room with you as you are with him."

"For some reason, that makes me feel a little better, but not much." She looked down the hallway. The room she and Zion were sharing was at the end of the hall, with Fang's room right next door. Serah and Snow were on the other side of Fang's room, with the two double rooms directly across from Fang and Lightning's rooms. The fact that the entire group was together did comfort Lightning somewhat, but the fact that someone she didn't know was going to be closer to her than anyone was a reason for her to be on edge.

Fang smiled and gave the soldier a small hug. "Look, despite everything I might think or say about him, not only is he harmless, but he's actually quite protective over those he considers his friends and family. Out of everyone, you'll probably be the safest tonight."

Light returned Fang's hug and smiled at her friend. "Thanks. I needed that." She turned to enter her room, but paused for a second in the doorway. "Good night, Fang." She closed the door before the Pulsian could respond.

Lightning was surprised to note that Zion hadn't bothered to turn on any lights. When she did so, she noticed that he seemed to have disappeared, until she realized that the large sliding glass door on the other side of the room was open. She stepped out onto the balcony outside the room and noticed that Zion was leaning on the railing, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. "It's beautiful here, isn't it?"

She didn't even realize he knew she was there until he spoke, and thus she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her. After a few seconds, she walked up and leaned on the railing next to him. "Yes, it is. I always liked this city, though the only time I ever came here was for work." She sighed and turned to face the door, leaning her back against the railing. "I'm sorry for the way I acted out there. I just don't know you well enough to know if it's safe to be near you."

Zion smiled at the soldier. "I know. I don't blame you. If the situation was reversed, I'd probably have the same reservations." He looked at the brand in his arm, as his smile faded away. He seemed to be lost in thought, though Light couldn't tell for sure.

"Zion?" Light was a little concerned about his change in mood. She wasn't sure what he was thinking about, but she knew that it probably wasn't anything good.

Zion looked away from the brand and into her eyes, almost as if he had forgotten she was there. "I hope you know that I wish none of you had been dragged into this mess. It is my responsibility." He turned around and headed into the room, followed closely by Lightning, who sat on the bed as he sat down in a chair in the corner of the room.

"We volunteered to help you. You didn't force this upon us." Lightning realized now that he was feeling guilty, thinking that he had wrecked the lives of the Cocoon residents. She knew that it was their sense of duty and doing what's right that spurred them to join him, not his coercion. "Don't ever feel sorry for what we're going through, Zion. It will only serve to make you weaker. You of all people should know that."

Zion sighed and closed his eyes. For a minute Light thought he'd gone to sleep, but when she got up off of the bed, he spoke to her. "I suppose you're right, Lightning. I just need to get used to having to rely on the help of others." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "I've worked alone for so long that I forgot that."

Light smiled at him. "You'll remember in time." She started to get into one of the bags she'd acquired while shopping. "I need to shower before bed. You need to stay there." There was a slight hint of teasing in her voice. She knew he wasn't going to try to sneak a peek at her, but she wanted to make sure he knew that she was aware of how vulnerable she was going to be.

Zion smiled and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I have no need to spy on you. Besides, we need to start building trust somewhere, right?" Lightning nodded at his comment and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. After about a minute, the shower could be heard running, and Zion smirked and closed his eyes.

Lightning wasted no time. She didn't know how long it would take for the shower to warm up, so she turned it on before she got undressed. She looked at herself in the mirror, noticing immediately the fairly large brand on her chest. It was above her breasts, but the bottom of the brand seemed to dive between them. She sighed as she touched it, they had been lucky to be able to be rid of the brands last time, but it wasn't likely that they would be able to get rid of them once again. She knew she'd be a l'Cie for the rest of her life this time, although for some reason it didn't bother her as much as she thought it would when she considered it the night before. The soldier sighed once again and got into the shower.

It took Lightning about an hour to get herself cleaned up. When she exited the bathroom, she looked over and noticed that Zion apparently hadn't moved since she'd left him. She thought he was asleep, and got herself into bed, and was mildly surprised when he spoke. "Good night, Lightning."

She smiled softly, aware he couldn't see it in the darkness. "Good night, Zion." She laid down and found herself drifting quickly off to sleep.

Lightning found herself standing in a room she had never seen before. The room had dark red brick all over it, all the walls, the floor, even the ceiling were made of the bricks. It was a fairly large room, but there were only a couple of windows, no ways to enter or exit the room. There was a couch in the center, behind her as she stood there. Next to the couch was a small table with a lamp on it. Other than the windows, the lamp was the only source of light in the room. She turned around, taking everything in, wondering how she got here.

"Well now, it looks like you've gone and made yourself a l'Cie again, haven't you?" Lightning immediately recognized the voice, and it made her blood run as cold as ice. She spun in the direction it had come from. There he was, standing about ten feet from her with his usual smug and condescending smile on his face. He wore his usual white and purple robes, along with his fairly clear veil. The old man laughed evilly as she stepped back and got in a fighting position.

"Barthandelus!" She spat the name, as if just saying it was like poisoning herself. "You son of a bitch, you're dead!" The fal'Cie laughed once again as she spoke to him.

"Oh, child, if you only knew the consequences of your actions." The old man stepped toward her, and she stepped away from him, and drew her gunblade, which only caused him to laugh again. "What do you think you're going to do with that? You said yourself, I'm already dead!"

Lightning grumbled and stepped further away from the old man. She knew there was a reason he was here with her, and she didn't like that idea at all. "What do you want from me?"

"To show you the error of your ways. You see, you and the other l'Cie decided not to follow your Focus, you set this planet on a collision course with its own demise! And now, I'm not around any more to guide you, or even to try to save you!" The old man was obviously enjoying watching Lightning become more uneasy as he spoke. "It's such a shame too. If you had just done as you were asked, the Maker would be here and you wouldn't be in this position."

By now, Lightning had heard enough of him. She jumped at him, attempting to slice him in half with her blade. As she did so, though, he disappeared. She stopped and turned around, seeing him standing before her once again laughing. "Foolish girl. You still have no idea what you're doing, do you? It's too bad this time I can't tell you. Oh well, guess you'll just have to die trying to figure it out!" He held out his hands, and a large blast of energy came from them, hitting Lightning square in the chest. She fell backwards, stumbling onto the couch, the force of her landing knocking the couch over along with the table next to it. As she fell, she dropped the gunblade on the ground.

As Lightning picked herself up off the floor she coughed slightly, her chest was a little sore from the blast. She stood up and looked around, only to see that Barthandelus was no longer in the room, even though his laugh was still echoing all around her. As she looked, the room itself seemed to blur, as if it was fading out of existence. Suddenly the walls melted away, revealing nothing but inky blackness all around her. A loud roar came from behind her, causing her to turn around. When she did, she saw two blood-red eyes staring at her, along with a mouth easily large enough to swallow her whole. She was suddenly aware she was unarmed, as a black hand reached out from nowhere, attempting to grab her.

Lightning spun around and grabbed her gunblade. She quickly turned and attempted to strike at the black creature. As she did so, her sword was stopped by another weapon. However, her hand had been on the trigger of the gunblade, and when the sword was stopped, the gun went off with a very loud bang.

_A/N: So, another one down. Next time, we find out what happens with Lightning's dream, and how it will effect the others. Oh, and a few other things that will happen immediately after Lightning's nightmare. Like I said at the top, the next one's going to be short, since I wanted to make the morning after its own chapter._

_Also, thank you to coca-cola1 for the review. As for your question, the pairings are Snow and Serah, Hope and Vanille, and, eventually, Lightning and Zion. I may put something in there for Sazh, I really haven't decided yet. As for Fang, she seems to me (and, apparently, everyone else on this site) to be someone who prefers the company of women more than men. I would like to have her have a relationship, but I don't know who it would be with. _

_And if I missed anyone, I apologize._


	9. L'Cie Dreams

_A/N: OK, so, here we get to find out what happened with Lightning's dream! And also a little bit more about old legends and theories of Pulse. This chapter ended up being longer than I thought it would, so I'm glad I separating it. And now, since I have nothing else to say, lets get on with the story, huh?_

_Disclaimer: OK, I lied, I do have one more thing to say: I don't own Final Fantasy, or Square Enix!_

**Chapter 9- L'Cie Dreams**

The gun had just gone off, and suddenly Lightning's sword was being pushed away. She swung once again, somewhat wildly this time, and again, the sword was blocked by a piece of metal. This time, though, Lightning could see the metal, it was another sword. As she was concentrating on fighting the darkness, she didn't notice that the world around her was spinning, forming a room around her. Again, her sword was knocked away and she lost her balance. This time, there was a voice, one she recognized, but couldn't place. "Lightning."

She realized suddenly that she was on her back, she tried to swing her sword up at whatever was attacking her, but her sword was pinned to the ground by the other sword, and immediately she felt a body sitting on top of her. Again, the voice spoke. "Lightning, calm down." With her sword arm pinned, as well as the rest of her body, she tried to punch the attacker, but the punch was blocked as well. Lightning reared back to punch again, but suddenly, an orange glow emitted between her and her attacker. She recognized the face of her attacker as Zion, but her brain was still confused. "Lightning, stop. I don't want to have to hurt you. Calm down."

His voice wasn't angry, it was more concerned. Lightning realized that he was using a small fire spell to light up the room, and as his words started to make sense to her, she began to breathe normally. Once she had herself under control, she looked around and realized where she was. "Wh... what happened?"

"It looks like you had a nightmare." Zion's tone was still one of concern.

"A nightmare?" It had seemed so real. Then she noticed that the left side of his shirt had a tear in it. "Oh no, Zion, I'm so sorry!" She pointed at the apparent wound, causing Zion to look down at his shirt.

"Damn, you got closer than I thought you did. Don't worry, though, you didn't hit me." Lightning could have sworn she saw him smile at her as he relaxed his sword arm, pulling it away from her own. It was then that Lightning realized that he was fighting left handed, something she was shocked she hadn't noticed before. Any other thoughts were silenced by a sudden pounding at the door.

"Lightning? Everything all right in there?" It was Snow, and he seemed quite worried. Zion slipped off of the soldier and placed the sword behind his left arm, ready to strike or defend if he needed to, as he opened the door slightly with his right hand to look into the hall.

"She's all right, we both are. It was just a bad dream." Zion noticed that almost everyone in their group had come out into the hall, or at least they had opened their doors and were looking at the interactions of Snow and Zion.

"I hope you can forgive me if I don't take your word for it." Snow didn't want to fight, but he knew he'd heard a gunshot, so he wanted to see that everything was all right with his soon to be sister-in-law. Zion simply smirked at him and opened the door.

"You all might as well come in, since you're all up." Zion stepped aside and let Snow and Serah, who were the closest to the door, to enter first, followed by Fang, Sazh, Dajh, Hope, and Vanille, with the latter two looking like they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have.

It was Sazh who noticed that Zion was still carrying his sword. The idea bothered him, but he didn't say anything out loud for fear of provoking the warrior. After the seven had stepped into the room, Zion closed the door and turned on the lights. Now everyone could see that Lightning was all right, though it was obvious something had scared her since she was still breathing somewhat heavily, and she was just now putting her gunblade away. Snow sat in the chair Zion had been occupying and immediately noticed the tear in Zion's shirt. "What the hell happened in here?"

Lightning spoke before Zion could. "I had a nightmare, and I attacked him thinking he was a part of it." The group seemed to be shocked about this revelation. Lightning was someone who usually had great control over her emotions. To see her this badly shaken, something very bad must have happened.

Zion looked around at the faces of the people in the room, noticing that Snow, Sazh, and Hope seemed to be the most concerned. He decided to poke at the group and find a few answers of his own. "It would appear that she's not the only one who's had a hard time getting peaceful rest tonight."

Sazh shook his head. "Yeah, I woke up from my own nightmare just before the gunshot."

Snow and Hope both looked at Sazh as if he was a ghost. "You too?" They both exclaimed, then looked at each other the same way they had the older man.

Zion sighed and looked at Fang. Her face had gone from shock to knowing. She had obviously come to the same conclusion he had. "It appears that we may have the proof finally."

"Yes, after all this time, it looks like I was right about something and you weren't, for once."

Vanille looked at her siblings with curiosity. "What are you two babbling about?"

"Sorry, but it would probably be helpful if Lightning or someone could explain their nightmare before we speculate any further." Zion was cautious. He was certain what was about to be said, and that it would destroy an opinion he'd had for a long time, but he still needed to hear it.

Lightning sighed. She realized that she would have to explain what she'd seen, but even she wasn't sure it was only a dream. "It was Barthandelus. He taunted me, saying that he had been keeping the creature at bay and now that he's gone we're all screwed." She noticed that Snow and Sazh were nodding their heads. Had they seen the same dream?

Hope was staring at her in shock. "It was the same for me. After a few minutes, I had enough and attacked him. Then the room I was in disappeared and this..." Hope was trying to paint the picture with his hands, unable to verbalize what he was trying to say, so Snow decided to jump in.

"It was a creature that seemed to be made entirely of shadow. It was as big as that behemoth we fought earlier today, maybe even bigger, I couldn't see anything other than the blood red eyes, and the huge, evil smile that showed its teeth."

"Yeah, and when it attacked me, that's when I woke up." Everyone looked at Sazh as he spoke. It was right after that that I heard the gunshot.

Lightning nodded. "I didn't realize that I was awake right away. I grabbed the gunblade to attack the creature, not realizing that I was attacking Zion."

"Why did you grab the gunblade, anyway?" Snow didn't seem to be aware of this. Perhaps his dream was different here.

"When I attacked Barthandelus, I went through him, and he hit me with some spell. I dropped my weapon in the process of landing, so I had to pick it up to attack again."

Now that everyone knew about the dreams, the four realized that they had indeed shared the same dream. They looked at Zion who was shaking his head and smiling lightly. Fang, who was standing next to him, was smiling as well. It was Snow who spoke up first. "OK, you two, you mind telling us what's so funny about this? And Zion, can you please put that sword away? It's making me a little nervous!"

Zion had almost forgotten that he was holding onto the sword. "Oh, sure, the scabbard is on the floor next to you, if you would hand it to me." Snow found it easily enough and gave Zion the sheath, which Zion immediately placed his weapon in before setting it on top of the TV he was standing in front of. He then turned to Fang. "Well, you were the one who was right in this case, maybe you should explain it?"

Fang nodded and stepped forward. "There is a theory that some on Gran Pulse have had for a long time. Unfortunately, the theory is so specific that it has been impossible to prove, until now. Because of the lack of evidence, Zion was doubtful of the theory, but now you four have proven it to be true."

Hope couldn't hold it in any longer. "What is the theory? How did we prove it?"

Zion stepped forward now. "The theory was that if multiple l'Cies were created at the same time by the same fal'Cie, and given the same Focus, that they could share feelings, thoughts,... and dreams. Unfortunately, due to the fact that it was rare for multiple l'Cie to be given the same Focus at the same time from the same fal'Cie, and even more rare for those l'Cie to be willing to succumb to experiments, this theory was never able to be proven, even for the fal'Cie."

Lightning looked up at his explanation. "You mean even the fal'Cie don't know about this side effect?"

Fang decided to answer. "They are aware of the possibility, but even they haven't seen enough evidence to suggest that it's real. After all, the l'Cie usually aren't around long once they're branded."

Sazh was a little bit confused about something. "So, why didn't the fal'Cie do experiments to test the theory? And why didn't you two ever share dreams or thoughts?"

"We already knew what the other was thinking most of the time, Sazh. It would have been hard to tell if it was due to being linked as l'Cie or not. Besides, we were given different Focuses, so it may not have been valid." Vanille had heard whispers of this particular legend, but she didn't know the particulars like the older siblings did. Nonetheless, she was able to put in her thoughts on it.

"She's right about that. And as for the experiments, I believe the fal'Cie did attempt some at one time. The experiments were failures, though, because in their infinite wisdom, the fal'Cie gave them the Focus to be experimented on, which once it was fulfilled, they turned to crystal before they could get any results!" Fang was almost laughing as she finished this statement. Lightning couldn't hold back a small chuckle that escaped the Pulsian's story. And once she'd started, everyone started laughing about the idea that the fal'Cie, the superior beings who had tried to control every move and thought that the humans ever had, would be so blind and stupid to not foresee the drawbacks of creating l'Cie just for the purpose of being guinea pigs.

After a few minutes, everyone seemed to calm down somewhat. Lightning looked around at the group assembled in her room, and realized that it was very much just like old times. "I'd forgotten until now how nice it is to have everyone here. We're finally all together, let's try to keep it this way, all right?"

"I think I can agree to that." Sazh stood up and gave Lightning a hug. "But I also think that it's time to get some sleep. Come on, Dajh. Seven in the morning is going to come faster than you think." Dajh hugged Lightning as well, then followed his father out the door and back to their own room.

"He's right you know. We all need some sleep. Hopefully, we can get some without any more nightmares." Snow also hugged Lightning, and proceeded to the door.

Serah hugged her sister as well, and added. "Good to see that you're all right, sis. Please don't try to kill each other any more." She kissed her older sibling on the forehead and left the room with her fiance.

Hope looked at Vanille with a bit of a curious look on his face. "You knew about this possibility?"

Vanille looked at him, a sad look in her eyes. "I knew there was a theory about it, but I didn't know it was possible that it could be true. I'm not as well versed in these things as they are. I'm sorry, Hope." She hugged him, and he returned her hug, then he kissed her. Fang grunted slightly and they realized that they weren't alone. "Sorry, Fang. Guess I got a little carried away."

"It's all right, though maybe you should wait until you get back to your own room?" Fang couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her younger sister.

For his part, Zion seemed to be neutral with the idea of Vanille having a boyfriend. He really didn't know Hope well enough to know if he was good for his sister or not, but if Fang didn't seem to worried about it, it wasn't his place to be concerned. After all, she would know the two of them much better than he did. "Good night, you two. Don't stay up too long. Sazh is right, seven is only a couple hours away, and I don't know when we'll be able to get a decent amount of rest once we leave here."

"Yes, _father!_" Vanille couldn't resist teasing Zion. It had been a long time since they'd been able to see each other, and the last time they had met it wasn't on good terms. To see him again and be pleasant to him this time around was definitely something she cherished. Zion smirked at her as she quickly made her way to the door, almost dragging Hope with her. Hope waved at Lightning and spoke a quick "Good night," before the door closed behind the two lovers.

Once everyone was gone, except for Fang, of course, Zion's expression seemed to change. He walked over to the chair he'd been sleeping in and sat down in it, putting his head in his hands and sighing. "You know, there is one thing about the theory you forgot to mention."

"I know. I thought it would be better if they weren't troubled by it." Fang sighed as well as she leaned against the wall.

"And just what is that?" Lightning had suddenly became concerned once again. Both of the Pulsians looked at her and sighed in unison, before Zion responded.

"The dreams, the nightmares, sometimes, they really are more than that."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lightning didn't like this new revelation. Fang decided that she really did need to know the full truth of the theory.

"Sometimes, a l'Cie can receive images, ideas, or thoughts from the fal'Cie that branded them in the form of dreams. You already knew this." Lightning nodded to Fang, who then continued. "Sometimes though, those same images can be predictions of the future, or at least a possible future. Nobody knows if what you saw was a possible future being played out, but the possibility can't be denied."

"So, this creature that attacked me, you think we'll have to face it for real eventually?"

"It's possible. I can't see the future, and even if Blaine can, it's only a possible one, the choices we make and the actions we take are constantly shifting the future slightly. The real issue is what that creature is." Zion's concern started to show through more as he finished his comments, which got Fang's attention as well as Lightning's.

"What do you mean?" Fang had an idea, but she still wanted her brother to admit it.

Zion sighed. He was backed into a corner now, and he knew it. "Our mission is to stop this creature from coming to our world, and failing that, to defeat or destroy the creature. The problem is that you know as well as I do, Fang, that there are many legends about what this creature is, and every single one of them tells us a different way to defeat the creature. Without knowing which one of these is true, we're flying blind against a ticking bomb. The only one who would have known is Barthandelus, and unfortunately for us, he's gone into the other dimension himself!" Zion had become agitated as he was speaking, and now decided to pause and gather his thoughts. As he did so, he slumped back in the chair before he continued.

"We need to get his notes from Eden, maybe at least they can point us in the right direction and eliminate some of the possibilities." He looked at Lightning with some concern in his face. "This is going to be a very long journey, and I have no idea what to expect any more than the rest of us. But I swear to you, to Fang, and to anyone else who will listen, that I will do everything in my power to make sure that we all get through this alive."

"Thank you for that, Zion." Lightning smiled at him, but it was obvious that the smile was fake, as it quickly turned into a frown. "But even if we do survive this, we will end up in crystal stasis. I know I haven't experienced it, but it doesn't seem to me to be much different than death."

Zion sighed. He didn't want to tell her what it was like to be in stasis. Realistically, he couldn't, it was different for everyone, and even if it wasn't he didn't know how to properly explain it. "In some ways, I suppose it is like death, but not in every way. And I will try to ask Blaine about keeping you out of stasis if it's at all possible. He owes me a few favors, so he may be willing to bend the rules slightly for us." He looked at Fang. "You should probably be getting to bed yourself, you know. You didn't get much sleep last night."

Fang laughed lightly. "Neither did you. You were in the forest less than two hours after you passed out!"

"You know I'm a light sleeper, Fang. How else am I going to be able to stop a behemoth from jumping me if I'm alone while I rest?" Zion was laughing as well and Fang bowed to him in defeat.

"All right, I'll leave you two alone. Just try not to be late, all right? The shuttle won't wait for us, after all." With that she waved at Lightning and Zion and disappeared out the door, leaving the two alone.

Lightning sighed as she pulled the covers up over her. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day, isn't it."

"Yes, it is. There probably won't be many from here on that aren't long. Because of that, we'll all need to get as much rest as we can when we can. Starting with tonight. Good night, Light."

Lightning groaned at Zion using the nickname the others had adopted for her long ago. She still wasn't completely comfortable with it, though at least he hadn't learned her real name yet. If he had, she'd never hear the end of it. Where did he learn her nickname from, anyway? "Good night, Zion." It wasn't long before both of them drifted off again into the darkness of sleep.

_A/N: Next up, the morning after, the group heads for Eden, and Lightning gets a shocking surprise!_

_To marze09: Thanks for the review. I hope you continue to enjoy it._

_Please leave comments and questions and other stuff, it'll make me want to write faster!_


	10. Journey to Eden

_A/N: Chapter 10 is here! We'll be getting more into the story starting with this chapter, so hopefully those of you who are still enjoying this story will be VERY happy with this installment. I was talking to a friend of mine, and mentioned that I have written in my head up through at least chapter 16, and that it was probably at best halfway through this first story. (For those of you who don't know, because I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, this is the first part of a planned trilogy of stories.)_

_Also, I apologize to all my readers for not having this out over the past weekend. Work and personal life have made it harder for me to write lately. With any luck, I'll have chapter 11 up this weekend, and be back on schedule!_

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own this. You know it, I know it, everyone on this website knows it!_

**Chapter 10- Journey to Eden**

Lightning woke up slowly, rubbing her eyes as she looked around. Her mind was slow to remind her about the previous night's activities, but when it did, she groaned softly before rolling around to look at the clock on the table, which read 6:45. She realized that she would have to get up soon, and as her mind cleared the thoughts of sleep away, she became aware of the sound of running water. Light quickly remembered Zion staying with her, and realized that he was probably showering. She sighed and shut off the alarm, then got out of the bed. She knocked on the door to the bathroom, hoping it was safe to enter. Not hearing anything, she opened the door slightly and peeked in.

"It's safe, Lightning. You're up a little bit early though. I was hoping that I'd be out of here and dressed by the time the alarm went off." Zion had apparently heard the door open, and was indeed in the shower, with the curtain pulled closed. His clothes, to the soldiers dismay, were piled up on the floor near the sink, on the far side of the room.

She stepped into the room, and began to work on getting herself cleaned up and ready for the day. "Yeah, I didn't think it would be useful to try to get any more sleep, since the alarm would be going of in fifteen minutes anyway."

"I suppose so, but can't you wait to put on your make up and stuff? I'm going to be done here in a minute." Lightning looked up in the mirror, she didn't wear make up, and he probably knew that already, besides, he hadn't even looked out from behind the curtain to see what she was doing. She smiled slightly and finished with her hair.

"I'll only take a minute. I'm sure you can stand there watching me for that long, can't you?" Lightning's voice had a hint of playfulness in it, Zion noted. He wasn't sure what she was playing at, though, so he decided to not comment any further.

"Hey, can you do me a favor? I left my bag with the clean clothes out in the other room, can you get it for me?"

Lightning glanced back at the curtain and groaned softly. "Sure, why not? Let me get these dirty ones out of here too, so that you won't be confused by what's what." As she picked up the dirty clothes, a small piece of silver metal fell out from within. "What's this?" She asked as she bent down to pick it up.

Zion had heard the metal piece drop, and poked his head out from behind the curtain. "No, Light, don't touch that!" His warning was too late, though, and as soon as she did touch it, the metal piece sent out a wave of electricity straight up the soldier's left arm. She jumped back in surprise, her arm hitting the side of the sink in the process. She was so stunned by this that she didn't even realize that the water in the shower had shut off until Zion was kneeling next to her. "You all right?"

It took a few seconds for Light to register he was talking to her, and finally she snapped out of her apparent trance and looked at him. "I'm fine." She tried to get up, but noticed right away that her left arm had no feeling in it. As she tried to put her weight on the arm, she collapsed, right into Zion's lap. Zion caught her and helped her to her feet, and it was then that she noticed that he'd at least had the decency to wrap a towel around himself before getting out.

"You sure you're all right?"

"My arm is numb, that's all."

"I'm afraid it will be that way at least for a couple of hours. On the plus side, it's your left arm, not your right, so you should still be effective should we have any problems." Zion smirked at her slightly, and moved her to sit on the edge of the tub. He then turned back to the metal piece which was now under the sink. As he reached down to grab it Lightning gasped softly. When Zion looked back at her, she realized that her fears were being expressed much more obviously than she'd intended, but he smiled at her once again. "It's all right." He picked up the piece, which, unlike when Lightning grabbed it, it did nothing to him.

"How...? What...?" Lightning's mind couldn't comprehend what was happening. She felt like that little metal shard had nearly killed her, but he could pick it up and have nothing happen? Zion knelt there for a minute with his back to her, and even though she was in some form of shock, she couldn't help but look at him. He turned around to her and sat on the tub next to her, the metal piece in his hand. She was smart enough to not to try to touch it again, but she was still very curious to it, and apparently it showed on her face.

"It's something I picked up when I was in Eden for my original Focus. I don't know what it is, other than it appears to be a part of something bigger and that it has some sort of magical properties." Lightning stared at the small rod in his hand. It was about the size of a pen, completely silver, and it appeared to have never been touched. Zion was rummaging through his clothes with his right hand as the rod sat in his left, and he finally pulled out a small pouch from within the pile.

As he examined it, he let out a small curse. "Well, that would be why it fell out." He held up the pouch, which Light noted had apparently split along the seam on one side. "It looks like your shot last night hit more than just my shirt." Lightning smiled slightly at his comment, it was obvious he was trying to make her feel better, as well as apologize in his own way for not telling her about the item.

"So, if you don't know what it is, why'd you take it?"

"I found it in Barthandelus' office along with a couple of notes on it. Apparently anyone who touched it wound up like you did, with their arm numb. I thought maybe I could take it and find a way to use it later on, but in the chaos of my escape, I never had the chance."

"But why can you touch it?"

"I don't know. I wanted to ask Blaine but I never had the opportunity." Zion put the metal piece on his shirt and handed the shirt to Lightning. "As long as you aren't directly touching it, it seems to not have any effect on you. It's almost as if it can sense if you're touching it or if you have some sort of protection."

"So, if I had my gloves on..."

"No, it would still zap you. I haven't figured out why you can touch it like this, but not with gloves or any other clothes that you are actually wearing. Its almost as big of a mystery as why I can touch it without any protection at all."

Lightning looked closely at the metal object. There were no marks on it, no writings, no indentations, it was just a small metal rod, though obviously one with some sort of magic within it. As Lightning continued to look at it, she realized that her arm was still usable, it just had no feeling in it. When Zion stood up and started to leave the room, she looked up at him. "Where are you going?"

"Well, I need to get dressed, unless you want me to go to Eden in nothing but a towel." Zion smirked at her and left the room, closing the door most of the way behind him. Lightning decided to give him some time to get ready, and placed the rod back on top of the pile of clothes as she started to do the same.

It took the pair almost an hour to finish getting themselves ready for the day, packed up, and checked out of the hotel. Zion had even had time to repair the damaged pouch before they left. They met the other seven l'Cie just outside the station. Most of the others noticed that Lightning was holding her arm somewhat carefully, but they didn't think too much of it, they knew she'd had a fight with Zion the previous night, and it was possible that she was slightly injured in the process, though why she hadn't bothered to cast a Cure on herself, they could only guess. Zion seemed to be a little bit more protective of her condition than any of them, including Fang and Vanille, would have guessed. Fang couldn't hold in her curiosity. "So, what happened to you two?"

Zion glanced at Fang, but said nothing. Lightning realized that she would have to be the one to answer the question, even though she was embarrassed by it. "It was nothing. Don't worry about it. Let's get going to Eden." With that, she walked past the group and into the docking bay area. Zion stood with the others, and realizing that everyone was looking at him for an explanation. He just shrugged and went inside the station, leaving everyone wondering.

It was over an hour before the shuttle to Eden left, so the group decided to have breakfast at a cafe nearby. As they ate, they conversed as a group, with a few private conversations between certain individuals being brought up in the middle. By the time they were done with their food and returned to the docks, it was time to board the shuttle. Lightning and Zion were the last two to board the shuttle, and Zion was immediately stopped by a young man in a military uniform once he was aboard. "I'm sorry, sir, but civilians aren't allowed to carry weapons on board." The man said, pointing at the sword on the l'Cie's back.

Zion looked at the soldier, almost as if he was going to pick a fight with him, but Lightning stepped in. "It's a security measure. Sazh has credentials that identify him as an employee of the government, and I'm a soldier, so we are immune, but you and Fang aren't." Zion then noticed that Fang's spear was sitting in a locker behind the soldier. Even so, Zion hesitated on handing over his weapon. "You'll get it back once we reach Eden." The soldier nodded his confirmation to Light's statement.

Zion realized that he wasn't going to win this argument, and needing to keep a low profile was a greater concern right now than keeping his pride from being wounded. Sighing, he undid the belt that held the sword on his back and handed it to the soldier, who placed it with Fang's spear and then shut and locked the locker door. "Thank you, sir. You may take any open seat." Zion looked at the young man again and then made his way down the aisle. The soldier then turned and saluted Lightning. "Ma'am. Thank you for your assistance in this matter."

Lightning saluted him as well. "You're welcome. I should apologize for him, but he's not comfortable with dealing with military rules. By the way, there's no need to salute, Sargent. I'm not in uniform nor am I on duty." She turned and walked away before the young soldier could respond.

The transport the group was on was designed for public travel. In addition to going to Eden, it was heading for Palumpolum and Bodhum, as well as a few other cities and towns around Cocoon, before returning to Nautilus in the evening. That said, there weren't very many people on the transport today. Other than the nine l'Cie and the people working on the ship, only five other people were sitting around.

There wasn't much sense in having assigned seating, so everyone sat wherever they wanted. Zion took a seat at the back of the transport, and was looking out the window. Lightning was sitting closer to the front, and like Zion, was currently sitting alone. Serah and Snow were sitting near the middle of the ship, with Sazh and Dajh sitting across the aisle from them. Hope and Vanille had taken up a pair of seats a couple rows in front of Snow and Serah, while Fang was sitting behind Sazh and Dajh. The five others were all sitting near the front on the opposite side of the two young l'Cie.

After about half an hour of sitting and waiting, the shuttle finally left Nautilus. Eden was the second stop on the trip, after Palumpolum, and thus, it was going to take a couple of hours to reach the former capital city. During the trip Fang, Snow, Serah and Sazh eventually found themselves discussing their situation.

"I didn't think Lightning was injured last night, was she?" Snow was concerned for his soon to be sister-in-law.

"I don't think so, but I couldn't get a very good look at her arm. I know that she shot at Zion, but missed, so it's possible he injured her in the fight." Sazh was contemplating it as well.

"No, something else happened between them. It isn't like Lightning to be completely ignorant of things, especially injuries. She's hiding something." Serah would probably know her sister better than anyone else, and Fang had to agree.

"Yes, normally Zion is an open book, but today he's more guarded than usual."

"Fang, how well do you really know Zion?" Sazh had been wondering about the relationship between the siblings since they had been reunited two nights ago.

"I'm not sure exactly what you mean, Sazh." Fang was almost lying. She had an idea what Sazh meant, but she wanted him to speak his mind.

"Zion said he spent most of his time alone in the wilderness, away from civilization. We've seen some of his skills, but we don't know how much to trust him. I just wonder how much better you know him."

Fang sighed. What Sazh said was true, she didn't know Zion like she wished she did. But at the same time, she knew him well enough to know he wasn't responsible for Lightning's apparent injury. "I know that Zion didn't injure Lightning, at least not purposefully. I wouldn't have let her stay in the same room with him if I thought for one second he would. And as for him being in the wilderness alone all the time, who in the bloody hell do you think taught me how to survive?" Fang paused for a minute, as she was starting to get herself worked up at the accusations. "That said, I would like to know what happened to her arm as well. I know you won't trust me or Serah if we ask our siblings, so why don't you ask Zion, Sazh, while Snow asks Lightning?"

The two men nodded and left their seats, heading for their designated targets and leaving the females alone. Serah was the one who spoke first. "Do you really think that everything's all right between them?"

Fang looked at Serah for a second before laughing lightly and shaking her head. "I'd say that everything's more than all right between them, they just haven't realized it themselves yet."

Lightning was staring out the window as Snow sat next to her. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice him until he spoke. "Hey, Sis?" His two words made her almost jump out of her seat, and she turned to him as if she was going to kill him. "Sorry to startle you, but I have to ask. What happened between you and Zion?"

"Nothing happened between us, Snow. Stop being so damn paranoid, and don't call me 'Sis.'" Lightning's expression had softened slightly, but she was still upset at her sister's fiance bothering her.

"Really, Light? Because that's not what your arm is telling me."

Lightning hadn't even realized that Snow had grabbed her left wrist until she looked down. She looked back up at him and stared into his eyes, she realized that she had to say something about it. She sighed and looked away from him. "Contrary to what you may think, my arm has nothing to do with Zion. I slipped in the bathroom this morning and hit my arm on the sink. It's been numb ever since, even though I've used a couple of Cures on it."

"You actually expect me to believe that the great soldier Lightning Farron fell down in the bathroom and damaged her arm on a sink?"

"I don't give a damn whether you believe it or not, Snow. If you want more of an explanation, go ask Zion and leave me alone!" With that, she turned her attention back to the window. Snow sighed and left her alone, returning to Serah and Fang.

"You mind if I talk to you, Zion?" The Pulsian had closed his eyes and appeared to be resting as the old man sat down next to him. When he spoke, Zion opened his eyes and looked at him.

"I'm guessing it's about Lightning." Sazh looked at him apparently with surprise, as Zion laughed lightly and situated himself to face the pilot. "I knew because I know that you are concerned about her. I also know you don't trust me. To be honest, I don't blame you. If I had listened to the teachings of my parents and my elders, I probably would have rather killed you than asked you for help. It's the way we were taught, after all."

"You do know that saying things like that doesn't make me trust you any more, right?"

"I know, but I don't think it would do either of us any more good for me to lie, would it?"

Now it was Sazh's turn to laugh lightly. "No, I suppose it wouldn't, especially since we're pretty much stuck with each other for now." Sazh sighed softly, though Zion was still able to hear it. "So, what did happen between you two? How did her arm get injured?"

"Nothing happened between us. She slipped and fell in the bathroom this morning and hit her hand or arm on the sink. She said it was numb, and apparently casting Cure didn't help any, so she decided she'd just deal with it."

"Thought you weren't going to lie to me. You and I both know that she's much more careful than to slip and fall in a bathroom."

"She usually is, yes, but there was some water on the floor. I was currently in the shower at the time, and I don't think the curtain was closed far enough. She was talking to me and slipped on a puddle." Zion shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn't know what else to say to Sazh. "Sometimes strange or stupid things happen even to the most cautious of us." What Zion had decided not to mention to Sazh was that the numbness should have worn off by now. The fact that it hadn't was very troubling to him.

Sazh wasn't completely sure how to take that comment, so he let it go with a small nod and headed back to the rest of the group, arriving at approximately the same time as Snow.

"Well, what did they say?" Fang was eager to see if her suspicions were confirmed or not.

"Zion says that she fell in the bathroom, slipped on some water on the floor or something, then hit her hand on the sink on the way down." Sazh shrugged, not sure if he believed that.

"Yeah, Lightning said the same thing, though she didn't mention water on the floor." Snow shrugged, having both of them tell the same story probably meant that they were telling the truth. Fang just smiled, wordlessly telling the two 'I told you so' as Serah put her arm around her fiance.

"You know, you two could learn a lot from those two. They may not trust each other, but they accept each other, and that's good enough for me." Snow nodded at his lover's comment and leaned into her embrace.

"Ugh, you two really need to get a room." Fang commented as she got out of her seat and went over to sit with Vanille and Hope, leaving the young couple laughing.

"Hey, Fang, what was that all about?" Hope was a little concerned. He knew Lightning was injured like everyone else did, but he knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

"I told you, it was probably nothing. Don't worry!" Vanille kissed Hope lightly on the cheek, but one look at Fang and she pulled away from him. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, you two are still tame compared to the older pair." Fang gestured to Snow and Serah who were in the middle of making sure they had each others complete attention. This, in turn made Hope blush a very bright red, and Vanille's own face started to turn a shade similar to her hair. "As for what's going on, we're all concerned about Lightning's health. She and Zion both said that she fell in the bathroom and hit her arm or hand on the sink, and that Cure spells didn't fix it."

"You don't seem to be certain of that, Fang?" Vanille's usual perky and confident attitude was suddenly extremely subdued, which usually meant that she was very concerned.

"I know Zion and Light. They aren't lying about what happened, but they're not telling the whole truth, either." Fang glanced at Lightning, and noticed that she was still staring holes in the airship's window. "I suppose we'll find out the truth if or when they decide we need to know. Until then, it's probably best not to worry about it too much. Besides, we should be arriving at Eden soon." Indeed, it was only about twenty more minutes until the airship docked in Eden.

_A/N: All right, next time, the gang heads for Edenhall. Along the way, they'll learn some things about the last fourteen months, and Zion becomes more concerned about Light's arm._

_To Marze09, and etheral-23, since you both said about the same thing: It's going to take a while before anything extremely romantic happens between them. Right now they're still trying to get used to each other. I might have something happen a bit down the road that will either break them apart or draw them together, but you'll have to wait and see what that is._

_I'd really appreciate it if you'd review this story and tell me what you think! Thanks in advance!_


	11. The Doomed City

_A/N: Chapter 11 is here! I said I'd try to get another chapter up by the end of the weekend, but who knew it'd be in three days? So, now the gang is on Eden, and we see just how far it's fallen since Barthandelus reigned. Also, a little bit of back story on why Cocoon isn't completely covered in crystal, as it was at the end of the game._

_Disclaimer: What do I have to do to own the rights to the characters? The world may never know, I know I won't!_

**Chapter 11- The Doomed City**

The l'Cie left the transport once it was safe to do so, and entered Eden's docking bay. Looking around, they noticed that all of the windows had been boarded shut, and the floor and walls had several cracks in it, many of which had been hastily repaired. The ceiling was missing in some areas, and there was some debris strewn around the bay. As they made their way to the exit through the maze of cracks, barriers, and ruins, the Pulsians couldn't help but wonder how bad things had gotten in this city.

By now all of them were aware of the trouble that had been plaguing Eden since Dysley, or rather Barthandelus, had resigned as Primarch. Between the Ark invasion and Barthandelus' own work, much of the city had been damaged. In fact, after Ragnarok Eden had been declared a quarantined area, and the military had been trying to get as many people safely out of the city as possible. But when they started to gain ground on the escaped monsters, the evacuation had taken a back seat, and now the civilians left in Eden were completely stranded, homeless and hopeless.

The quarantined area was now only around the district that held Edenhall, in the center of the city. From where the l'Cie had landed, they would end up entering the Quarantine Zone from a temporary base set up at the Siren Park section of Eden. With that in mind, they left the confines of the dock, and got their first look at the former capitol of Cocoon. What they saw, they could barely believe.

Most of the buildings in Eden had been completely destroyed by the fighting, and many of those left standing looked as if they were about to fall over. The road leading away from the dock was cracked much more than the floor of the bay itself had been, and unlike the docks, nobody had made any attempts to repair the street. Smoke was rising from many areas throughout the city, and nobody was certain whether it was from the buildings burning or if it was from people trying to stay alive. Once in a while, distant gunshots could be heard, though it wasn't clear if it was a military action or civilians. Far in the distance, barely visible through the smoke, sat their destination, Edenhall, the former seat of Cocoon government.

Fang and Vanille couldn't believe that the city had changed this much in just over a year, even with all of the chaos that had been started when they were last here. Zion took in the sights of the area and simply closed his eyes and shook his head. "Well, at least it looks like we can still get to Edenhall. Let's get going, shall we?" He had been walking in the direction that they needed to go when he'd realized that nobody had followed him. His comments seemed to shake everyone out of their respective dazes, and they all picked their way carefully down the street to the elevators near a dead end.

After pressing the button to summon the elevators, the group climbed in and rode down to a lower level of the city. Once they exited, they noticed that the damage down here was even worse then it was above. The road here was completely missing in spots, and it appeared that to their right that it had been partially covered by the edge of a fallen building.

The group started to walk away from the covered area, down the new street, when a sudden noise behind them got their attention. Zion was the first to reach the edge of the road, and was quickly followed by the rest of the group, all with their weapons drawn.

What they found under the canopy, in a hole in the road, wasn't a monster. Instead, it was a man, a woman, and three children, huddled around a small fire in the middle of the pit. It was apparent that they had been there a while, as there were tattered blankets all around the area. The four within the pit, seeing the humans standing there with their weapons drawn, huddled together and began to cower at the back of their makeshift home. Zion sighed and sheathed his sword, then jumped into the pit. He turned to the group, looking at them for a second, before he began to walk to the frightened family. Lightning got his message immediately. "Stay here." She said it to nobody in particular, but it was obvious that everyone got the message.

Zion continued his cautious walk toward the cowering group, his hands at his sides. "We aren't here to hurt you. You just startled us." He had to walk around the fire to reach the family, and once he did, he knelt in front of the group, a soft smile on his face. "Forgive me, but it's been a while since I've been in Eden, so perhaps you can help me? You see, I don't know what the conditions are further ahead, and we need to get to Siren Park." Zion pointed behind him, to illustrate his point.

The family was silent for a while, and Zion started to think that they were too scared to answer him. Before he stood, though, the man responded in a soft, hoarse voice. "Most of the beasts have been put into Quarantine, at the expense of the rest of the city. The military has scavenged parts from the elevators and buildings all over, but especially closer to the bases. Nothing in the area of Siren Park is stable, and other than the base, power there is non-existent."

Zion frowned slightly at this news, but nodded his head and stood up. "Thank you for the information." He began digging in a bag attached to his belt, and produced four rations, giving each family member one. When that was done, he turned around and returned to the group, who had watched and heard this exchange with a mixture of curiosity, hope, and fear.

"Why did you give them all of your rations?" Lightning scolded the Pulsian as they began to walk down the road once again.

"They looked like they needed them more than I do." Zion looked back behind him, through the rest of the group, at the small pit he'd just left. "Besides, if we ignore those who need help the most, what is the point of helping anyone at all?" Lightning couldn't find an answer to that question, and sighed in defeat, nodding at him and continuing to walk forward.

Further on down the road the group came to a large pile of debris. However, unlike the rest of the they'd seen, this debris was encased in crystal. Vanille gasped at the sight, and she and Fang immediately ran up to the pile. Fang ran her hand over the clear-silver crystal, and as she felt along its surface, she realized what it was. This made her wonder about what had happened. "This is the same crystal we were put into stasis in."

"Yes, it is." Sazh was now walking up behind the pair, with the rest of the group in tow. He looked at the crystallized pile and couldn't quite hide his amusement at the Pulsians' shock. "Sometimes you can see pieces of Cocoon encased in it still. It's unusual to find a piece this big, though."

"I was wondering about that, Fang. When we saved Cocoon, didn't we turn the entire planet into crystal?" Vanille was apparently aware of what they'd done more than the others had realized.

"I thought we did, but until now, there wasn't any proof." Fang was even more confused than her young companion, though it seemed neither of them would ask for information. Zion was also confused and concerned, he had assumed that Cocoon was completely crystallized as well. However, the male Pulsian was much better at hiding his emotions than the women were. Nonetheless he listened intently to the conversation.

"Well, you did turn all of Cocoon into crystal when you became Ragnarok." Hope volunteered the information. All eyes turned to him, and waited for more. When none came, Vanille decided to take a more active part in the conversation.

"Then why isn't it now?"

Hope looked away from the Pulsians, to the crystal, then back again. "I don't know, and as far as we can tell, nobody does." Hope paused for a second, and spotting a piece of crystal large enough to sit on, he decided to take a minute to rest and consider his explanation.

"When we defeated Orphan, and you two turned to crystal, you became a pillar that kept Cocoon from crashing into Pulse and killing everyone and everything on both planets. But you did more than that, Cocoon wasn't just encased in crystal, it was completely turned INTO crystal." Vanille and Fang both nodded, they had already either been aware of this or at the very least assumed it. "We searched Euride and everywhere else we knew fal'Cie lived, and couldn't find any traces of any of them. Even Phoenix had disappeared, and Cocoon was bathed in perpetual darkness. The government realized that as it was at the time, Cocoon was incapable of supporting human life. Because of this, they authorized and ordered the settlement of Pulse. For two months, the military implemented a forced evacuation of Cocoon. They were going to let the monsters Barthandelus had unleashed in Eden have the entire planet.

"But one day, people woke up and noticed that the crystal that had coated everything on the planet was disappearing. That same day, the skies were lit up in daylight for the first time since Ragnarok. Phoenix had returned." Hope gestured to the sky, to the sunlight drifting through and onto the crystal which everyone had come to take for granted. "We looked at Euride and in Palumpolum, and everywhere else, and almost all of the fal'Cie we'd thought had been killed were back. When they returned, the crystal began to vanish, though there are still some spots where the fal'Cie haven't gotten, especially here in Eden."

"If the fal'Cie have returned, then..." Fang wasn't sure she liked where this was going, but Hope just shook his head.

"No, Barthandelus, Orphan, and Eden are all dead, as far as we can tell. I don't think anyone has gone into Edenhall since we escaped it, but there isn't any evidence that any of them are in there." Vanille opened her mouth to ask a question, but Hope put a hand up to stop her. "And we don't know where the fal'Cie went for those two months, nor why they returned. Fact is, nobody's been able to communicate with any of them since they came back, and because of that, there is a lot of hostility surrounding them, especially at Euride."

Zion spoke for the first time since Hope had begun his story. "Hostility? You mean that they don't trust the fal'Cie anymore."

Lightning decided it was time for her to enter the conversation at this point, since she was the one who knew most about this particular situation. "Some people believe that the fal'Cie that remain on Cocoon wish us no harm, but there are those who believe that all fal'Cie are enemies of humanity and must be destroyed. The power plant at Euride Gorge, because it houses Kujata, has become a frequent site of conflict between these two opposing ideals, and the fact that the fal'Cie can't or won't speak to us isn't helping the situation one way or another."

Fang looked at Lightning with an amused yet concerned expression on her face. "So why hasn't the government stepped in?"

Hope spoke up once again. "Because they can't." At Fangs look, he elaborated. "The government right now is almost as much of a mess as Eden is. After the fall of Sanctum, there was complete chaos. It wasn't until after the fa'Cie returned that anything resembling normalcy came back into the political realm, but by then, the government had to be completely redone. In the end, it was decided that each city on Cocoon and each colony on Pulse would elect one representative to a council that would make laws governing both Cocoon and Pulse. The elections were held four months ago, and the representatives have been gathering information and seeing what needs to be done before they actually meet to make any policy decisions. That said, one thing they did do right after the elections was throw out much of the Sanctum's restrictions, including those on travel. They also limited the powers of the military and police forces, so there isn't any more oppression."

"Yeah, and Hope would know, since his dad is the representative of Oerba!" Snow happily chimed in his two cents for the first time, which earned a small groan of annoyance from Serah. Zion looked at the pair with an amused look, while Vanille tried unsuccessfully to restrain a giggle. The others appeared to not have any reaction, except Hope, who looked worried that the Pulsians may take offence to a resident of Cocoon representing their village.

Fang realized this and belayed the young man's fears. "Hey, he's a good man. He'll be a good representative for Oerba, especially since we're going to be too busy trying to stay alive to do it ourselves."

Sazh groaned as he stretched. "Speaking of which, we need to keep moving. We aren't going to get to Siren Park standing here, you know." The others nodded in agreement, happy for being able to rest a little bit, but well aware that they were still racing against the clock.

For the most part, the journey to Siren Park was uneventful. Along the way the group encountered an occasional Pulse creature to defeat, or a rogue machine that would attack them suddenly, but it was nothing they weren't prepared to handle easily. As they continued their journey, they also noticed that the destruction seemed to grow worse the closer they got to the Quarantine Zone. They had to use a few elevators to change levels in order to get around blockages or damaged areas, and to continue to go in the correct direction, but within a few hours, they were on the freeway that they had used to get to Siren Park the last time they'd been in Eden.

As they approached the end of the line, where the road had been barricaded by a massive accident fourteen months ago, they noticed that some of the destruction appeared to have been intentional. "This must be what they meant by scavenging the area for the base." Sazh remarked as he looked at a piece of the wall that had apparently been cut apart.

"I'd heard reports that the soldiers stationed in Eden had been taking pieces from the city's debris in order to fortify the walls and keep their bases operational, but I didn't know they were true." Lightning remarked at Sazh's discovery.

Zion had walked over to where the elevator's doors were, but when he went to open them, an explosion was heard coming from the direction of Edenhall. All eyes turned at the sound to see what appeared to be a large ball of fire flying out of one of the windows of the building, heading directly for the l'Cie. It fell short of hitting them, however, and in fact fell almost half a mile short. Nonetheless, it worried the group that they were being targeted. "We need to get moving, if that was intentional, we're sitting ducks here." With that, Zion forced open the elevator doors, and noticed, with some frustration, that the elevator shaft had been largely carved up, and the elevator itself was missing.

Lightning, who had walked up behind him and was now looking over his shoulder as best she could, noticed why Zion had started grumbling softly. "Looks like we're going to need to climb down, doesn't it?"

"Yes, though, it may be better if one of us leads, since we have the most experience in things like this." Zion glanced back at the rest of the group, then back to Lightning. "The kids should be the last to start, they can follow the path we pick out for them."

Sazh had walked over two the soldier and warrior, and caught the last of their conversation. "Well, I doubt that Dajh will be able to climb much of anything, especially with how far down we'll need to go." He looked down the shaft as Zion had stepped aside.

Snow walked up to the group, along with Serah. "Well, why can't we use your anti-gravity thing like we did last time we were in Eden, sis?" His comment immediately got an elbow in the gut from his fiance.

Lightning groaned at Snow's reference to her status, but replied calmly anyway. "There's two problems with that. First, the shaft is way to narrow for all of us to jump down it safely, and even if we did, we don't know what's at the bottom or even if there IS one. Secondly, I don't have enough copies for everyone. In fact, I only have two operational ones left."

She motioned for the others who hadn't already joined the group to do so, then Zion and Lightning took turns explaining what was going to happen. Everyone understood fairly quickly, since most of them had done things like this before. After explaining everything, and making sure that Dajh was securely tied to Sazh's back, Zion began to work his way down the shaft. Lightning followed, with Sazh behind her. Serah, Snow, Vanille, and Hope eventually started climbing, with Fang bringing up the rear, and ensuring that they weren't jumped from behind as they started.

The path the group took was slow, because there were spots that they had to move laterally around the chamber rather than vertically down it. Because of this, and the fact that everyone climbed at different rates, the group ended up somewhat spread out along the makeshift cave. About the time the group got halfway down the shaft, another explosion was heard from the direction of Edenhall.

A couple of seconds later, a portion of the shaft exploded, sending debris down and causing Hope to lose his grip on the wall. As he fell, Zion, who was about ten feet directly underneath him, reached out his left hand to grab the boy as he fell past. He managed to catch Hope, but in doing so, Zion lost his own grip on the rickety surface. He grabbed at Lightning with his right hand as he started to fall, but when he failed to get a hold of anything, he simply pulled Hope to him as they both plummeted down the shaft.

_A/N: Yeah, another cliffhanger. I'm going to try to NOT make that a habit, but I thought that it was a good point to stop. Next time, the Siren Point base, and the fates of Hope and Zion._

_To etheral-23, and anyone else who reads this: Thanks for the time and review. I hope you continue to enjoy it._

_Please review and comment! It is always appreciated!_


	12. Siren Park

_A/N: Chapter 12 is here! It ended up being longer than I thought it would, and I'm STILL not sure I got everything in it that I wanted to. At any rate, enjoy it._

_Disclaimer: Yep, still not owning it._

**Chapter 12- Siren Park**

Hope and Zion plummeted down the elevator shaft. All anyone else could do was watch and prey to whatever gods or goddesses they could think of that the l'Cie abilities the two had would help them to survive the fall. Lightning, almost by reflex, had put her hand where Zion had attempted to grab her. As she did so, she realized that something was missing from her belt. "Son of a..." she started to mumble to herself, but then she looked up at the others. "They'll be all right," she told them.

"How can you POSSIBLY know that?" Sazh looked at her as if she'd lost her mind.

"Zion took my anti-gravity generator."

Sazh's look softened greatly as he realized what she was saying. "Oh." was all he said.

"Still, we'd better get moving, I'm beginning to question whether those blasts are random or not." Fang remarked. Lightning nodded and continued the climb down the shaft, followed quickly by the others.

She had been right, Zion had taken the opportunity of brushing against Lightning to borrow her anti-gravity generator, and he had made sure to activate it long before they hit the ground. Because of that, they ended up in a small zero gravity field rather than hitting the bottom of the shaft with enough force to kill them both. Once they were both safely on the ground, Zion looked Hope over. "You all right?"

"Yeah, a little scared, but I'll survive." Hope flexed his arms and legs, making sure that he wasn't injured beyond having his life flash before his eyes. He looked back up the shaft, and realized they'd fallen far enough in the dark tunnel that they couldn't see the others from their current position. He sighed and embarrassingly commented, "You'd think I'd be used to things like that after the last time."

The older man chuckled a little at Hope's comment. "Not really. Things like that help to keep us on our edge. It would be even worse if we did get used to things like being blown up or shot at."

"They'll be worried about us, you know."

"I'm pretty sure Lightning knows I relieved her of her toy by now." Zion held up the anti-gravity generator for Hope to see. "And right now, they need to concentrate on getting down here safely, so we shouldn't disturb them." Zion looked at Hope again, and this time noticed that there was a small patch of red in his hair. "Looks like you got hit with some of that debris."

It took Hope a few seconds to realize what Zion was saying, then he ran his hand through his hair, and as soon as he hit the red spot, he winced. "Yeah, I guess I did." As he spoke, his hand began to glow green, and the healing tendrils of a Cure spell began to weave into his scalp, sealing and healing the wound. After he was done he moved his hand away, though the red stain in his hair remained.

"Mind if I look?" Hope shook his head and turned to let the Pulsian check his wound. "Not bad, I'm a little impressed that someone as young as you is as skilled in the Medic paradigm as you are. Though, we should do something about that red spot." As Zion finished his comments, he cast a small water spell on Hope's head, washing all the blood out of his hair and returning it to its silver color.

"Thanks." Hope was apparently still somewhat embarrassed by the entire ordeal, but Zion just nodded his acknowledgment. The two spent a few minutes sitting there in silence, searching for any evidence that the others were on their way down. After a while, Hope spoke, asking Zion what had been on his mind. "How come Lightning didn't use a Cure spell on her arm this morning?"

Zion looked at Hope, analyzing his question. Zion knew that the young man had heard Sazh and Snow tell what he and Light had said on the ride to Eden, so he figured that Hope probably just didn't believe them, or wanted to hear it himself. "I don't know that she didn't, but if she did, but it didn't work."

"Well, why not? I mean, it should have, shouldn't it?"

"I don't know, Hope." Zion hadn't been lying about this part, he didn't know why the Cure spell didn't work on the injury Lightning had suffered. He also knew that the numbness of the rod should have left her by now, yet she seemed to still be favoring it before they started to climb. He hadn't noticed it while they were coming down the shaft, though, so it was possible that it just took a little longer than normal to wear off. "If she's still hurting when she gets down here, you can try to Cure her yourself if you want."

"I don't know if she'd let me, but I'll try if she'll allow it." Hope smiled softly at the conversation, and before he could say anything more, they heard a small shout from above.

"Hey you two, you alive down there?" Lightning's unemotional voice seemed to carry pretty well in the shaft, since when they looked up, neither of them could see her yet.

"Yeah, we're fine, a little shaken up is all." Zion said it louder than he'd intended, but he didn't know how far away they were and he wanted to make sure they heard him. "You guys gonna get down here sometime today?"

"Bloody prick, when I get down there, I'm going to shove my spear up your..."

"FANG!"

Zion and Hope both laughed at the female Pulsians' banter. In a few minutes, they could make out Lightning moving around above them, and within another half hour all 7 of the l'Cie had reached the bottom of the shaft. Looking around the shaft now, they realized that without the elevator's bottom, the doors they sought were now on a ledge about waist high, nothing they couldn't handle. As Snow and Sazh went and opened the doors, Zion spoke up with a comment that got everyone's attention.

"Hey, Lightning." Everyone turned to him at those words, including Light, who had been almost purposefully staying away. "How's your arm?"

Lightning looked down at her left hand. She flexed the fingers in it, making a fist, then relaxed it, but she knew that if he was asking, it was obvious to others that she was hurting. "I can grab things, but it's not as strong as it should be, and my hand doesn't have much feeling in it." As she spoke, Zion and Hope walked over to her.

"Take your glove off for me, will you?" Zion was asking softly, it wasn't an order. He knew that she was as concerned as everyone else was.

"What for?" Lightning couldn't help her slight nervousness. Though nobody else may have realized it, the two of them had made a silent pact to keep what really happened a secret, though they were still stuck dealing with the aftermath in front of the others.

"When you initially hit your hand, we assumed that it was numb because of the way you hit the sink, or that you'd hit your elbow on the floor. If that was the case, then the numbness would have worn off some time ago. Since you're still numb, something else is wrong."

With those words, Lightning nodded and pulled the glove off. When she did so, everyone gasped, including Lightning, for her hand had almost doubled in size due to swelling. "How?" Light's question didn't even need finished, as Zion held his hand out to her, and she placed her injured one within his.

He worked the hand over gently. After a couple of minutes of placing his thumbs in various places he sighed. "Ah, there's the problem, when you fell, you broke one of the bones in your hand, and the piece of bone is resting against your nerve there. Due to the expected numbness, we didn't think to look for it at the time, but now that we have found it, I can reset it, then Hope can cast Cure on it. However..." He paused his movements, and his words, as looked at Light's face. "I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt."

Lightning had assumed it would be painful, especially once he said the hand was broken. Silently she nodded her agreement to Zion, and steeled herself against what was to come. Zion, upon seeing her nod, began to work against the bone. After a few seconds, a sickening pop was heard, and Lightning let out a pained groan as her knees buckled underneath her. Indeed it had hurt, much more than the soldier had anticipated. Zion almost immediately stepped away, letting Hope take her hand to cast his Cure spell on it. As he did so, the swelling almost instantly decreased.

Another minute and Hope stepped away from the soldier as well. Lightning, who had been breathing heavily, and still was, looked up at the two with a faint smile. "Thanks, both of you." With that, she stood up and replaced her glove, flexing the hand. "That feels much better, though it's still sore." Zion nodded his confirmation, and Hope smiled at his friend.

Serah, who'd watched this all, sighed in relief, and Snow put his arm around his fiance. It was Sazh who'd brought them back to reality, however. "Hey, uh, guys, if you're done resting, we do still have things to do, you know."

Everyone looked at Sazh for a minute, and Lightning nodded at him. "Yes, we'll need to get access to the Quarantine Zone to get to Edenhall. The easiest way to do that is to get permission from the local military, who are stationed here, in Siren Park." As she spoke, she climbed up onto the ledge and looked out onto the next leg of their journey.

As the group exited the elevator shaft, they realized that towering before them, at least seven stories tall, was a massive makeshift building. Although the building appeared to be strong, it also seemed as if it had been pieced together randomly, and added on as needed. The door on the ground floor was flanked by two guards, and another ten were in various parts of the path between the gang and the building. Behind the building, standing just as tall as the building itself, was a massive wall that extended out around Edenhall as far as the l'Cie could see. Lightning, being the only soldier of the group, took the lead.

When she approached, the two soldiers recognized her as a Lieutenant and saluted her. She saluted them back, and as the others walked up, one of the guards began to speak. "Welcome, ma'am, to Siren Point Quarantine Outpost. I'm sorry, but we aren't using shuttle services at this time, so the civilians are going to have to use the public transportation."

"We aren't here to leave Eden, at least not yet. We need to speak to whoever it is that's in charge of this outpost."

"Colonel Tran is the man in charge here, but I don't think he's taking meetings today."

"I'm afraid it's important, if needed, we can wait. Besides, we damn near lost two of the civilians just getting here, thanks to whatever the hell came out of Edenhall!" Lightning was playing the "not taking 'no' for an answer" card well, and the soldiers knew that if she made it an order, they would _have_ to let her and the others pass. Doing so, however, would probably require questions she'd rather not have asked.

Zion listened into the conversation quietly, as the others looked around their surroundings. Everyone except Serah and Dajh had been to Siren Park during the events fourteen months ago, and all of them were surprised at how much this section of the city had been changed. Zion had also been in this area, though for him, it was over 500 years previous, thus his surprise was much less. He was also watching the soldiers for any signs of trouble, as he didn't entirely trust them.

After what seemed like an hour, the soldier that had been talking to Lightning grabbed a radio off of his belt and began speaking into it. Zion couldn't hear what was being said, but he could assume, as could Lightning, that the man was asking about the Col.'s availability. In another minute, he turned back around, put the radio away, then addressed Lightning again. "All right, ma'am. The Colonel will see you in a few minutes. In the mean time, you are all welcome to use the lobby as a waiting room." With that, the two guards stepped aside and allowed everyone to enter the makeshift fortress.

The inside the base wasn't much different than the outside. It still looked like it had been patched together randomly, although at least on the inside, it had furniture and some carpeted floors. It also appeared that someone had at least attempted to paint the walls so that they looked nicer than just random pieces of metal and cement patched together. As the l'Cie looked around the room, various soldiers moved between the three doors and one hallway leading from the lobby. The entire time, a female soldier sat behind a desk watching everyone.

Eventually, the receptionist stood up and walked over to Lightning. "Excuse me, are you Lt. Farron?"

Lightning looked back at her, somewhat confused. "Yes, how did you know that?"

"Col. Tran will see you and your friends now. His office is on the fifth floor, just off of the elevator." The receptionist pointed down the hall, to where the elevators were, then returned to her duties. As she returned to her desk, Lightning motioned for the others to follow her.

It didn't take them long to get up to the Colonel's office, and once they entered, Lighting immediately tensed up and saluted her Superior officer. The Colonel saluted back but kept some sort of formality. "At ease, Lieutenant." The colonel was an older man, probably in his 40s, his black hair had traces of gray in it, but he looked like he was more than capable of handling himself in battle, if he needed to. He was clad in the regulation uniform of the Cocoon military, something that everyone in the group was already used to. As he sat back in his chair behind a desk, he continued. "I am surprised that a solider from Bodhum would be asking for my counsel on an important matter, especially with how close you supposedly are with Col. Amodar."

"I have had something come up that I haven't had the chance to ask my CO about. I can't tell you what it is, but I can say that I have a need to be here."

The older soldier looked at Light curiously, as well as the rest of her group. The l'Cie had been careful, all of their brands had been covered by some sort of clothing. "You need to talk to me about something, but you can't tell me what it is?"

"I have a favor to ask of you, and you are the one in position to grant my request."

"And what exactly would that request be?"

"We need to access a computer in Edenhall. One that's not connected to the network."

The color seemed to drain from the Colonel's face when Lightning mentioned this. "But that means that you'll need to enter the Quarantine Zone. I'm afraid I can't allow that. Nobody's going into the Quarantine Zone. I've already lost almost 30 soldiers trying to push back those Pulsian creatures, I'm not going to allow another soldier who's not even under my command to commit suicide along with a group of civilians!"

"With all due respect, sir, most of us were here when this mess began fourteen months ago. We've seen these creatures, we've fought against them in the past. We can hold our own inside there. Besides, we HAVE to get in there, we don't have a choice."

The colonel was getting upset now, and he stood up and glared at Lightning. "You may not have a choice, but I do. You are not going into the Quarantine Zone, and there's nothing-" His words were cut off as Zion's hand slammed onto the table. As he looked at his arm, he noticed Zion had removed the covering of his brand, which was now glowing faintly.

Zion was watching the Colonel's reaction before commenting. Seeing the soldier go slack-jawed and apparently somewhat scared of this revelation, he decided to make things clearer for him. "I can see that you know what that is." Zion nodded toward his brand, and the Colonel only nodded his confirmation. "Then you understand what she meant when she said we don't have a choice. We need to get in there in order to further our Focus, and if you continue to refuse to allow us entry, we will simply wait here, and eventually we'll become Cie'th, and you'll have to deal with us then."

Tran looked at the brand, then at Lightning, who simply looked at him as if she was waiting for his response. Sighing, he gave his permission. "All right, you win. You may all enter the Zone. We don't have control of all of the security measures within Edenhall, but we do have the security cameras working as well as the communicators. The top five or six floors of the building haven't been invaded by these Pulse creatures yet, something seems to be stopping them, but just getting there is going to be harder than hell."

"We've been in there before, we intend to do it again." Lightning's comments made Col. Tran come to a realization.

"You are the l'Cie that saved us all from Barthandelus, aren't you."

Zion spoke up now. "Everyone here had some part to play in the events that led to the fall of Sanctum. Lightning led the l'Cie invasion of Eden and it was her group that defeated Barthandelus."

Fang decided to add her two cents to the conversation. "Unfortunately, Barthandelus was hiding something when he died, and now we need to find out what that was. That is why we need to find his private logs within Edenhall."

Lightning nodded, and Col. Tran the moved from behind the desk. "Well, if that's the case, I hope you all are successful. I know that you saved us all once, and if you're back looking for answers, that means that there's something else happening. If anyone can save us all again, I believe it would be you. Follow me." As he led the group down the hallway from his office, the group continued to discuss the situation. "What is it that you seek?"

Vanille spoke this time around. "We don't know, really. According to the information we have on our Focus, Barthandelus had managed to keep something sealed in another dimension, and with his death, there is now the possibility that this creature will return."

Snow chirped in as well. "Apparently Barthandelus was intending to sacrifice all of humanity to bring the Maker back so that he could stop this creature's return. Since he failed that, and died in the process, any information available is now hidden on one of his computers within Edenhall."

Tran didn't seem to understand the implications. "But we have all of the working computers from Edenhall still connected to the network, don't we?"

Zion elaborated now. "Not all of them, Barthandelus was too careful to put his agenda out there for everyone to see. To that end, he would have kept a computer off the network that would have his plans and data on it. It would probably have been in his office, which according to what you've told us, is in the area of Edenhall that isn't yet compromised by the Pulse creatures." At this point, the group had reached another set of elevators, and gone down two levels, emerging in a very high-tech area.

"Well, here we are, the main control room of our temporary headquarters. From here we can monitor your activities and communicate with you, if necessary." The colonel paused and lowered his voice slightly so that the other soldiers couldn't hear as well. "I have no desire to see the world ended, and personally I feel as if I have a great debt to you for saving us all last time. I will do whatever is needed to aide your mission."

Lightning nodded to him. "Thank you, but we should get on with our mission. If we need some help, we'll be sure to contact you." She turned to leave, but paused, and added. "If you could, Colonel, would you mind telling Colonel Amodar about my location? Leave out the reasoning, I'll inform him of it when I see him again, which should hopefully be tomorrow."

"You intend to head to Bodhum after you're done here?"

"That is currently the plan, though depending on what we find in Edenhall, that could change."

"Very well, then, Lieutenant. The access to the Quarantine Zone is at the other end of this hall. Good luck to you all." With that, the l'Cie turned and left to continue their mission, and Col. Tran turned to his subordinates sitting at various consoles. "All right, I want everyone here to keep me informed at all times of their progress. Those civilians are our number one priority for right now."

_A/N: OK, another one down. Next time, Edenhall, FINALLY! Also, a few more surprises either next chapter or the one after that, including one that some of you are probably curious about._

_To etheral-23: The creature is something that is tied to the Maker's disappearence. Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't tell you much, at least not without giving away spoilers. You have, however seen the creature's handywork already, and it will be pointed out in more detail in a later chapter._

_Once again, please leave reviews and comments, as I do appreciate them._


	13. Scaling Edenhall

_A/N: All right, another chapter of the mission. This one was hard to write because of the fight here. I wasn't sure how descriptive I wanted to be with the fight, but in the end I hope it's done well enough. This chapter also made me think of a question to ask all my readers: Are the names of the various enemies supposed to be capitalized? Every piece of writing I can find has the names capitalized, but to me the names are just species names, unless its a specific monster or boss creature. That said, I did treat the Juggernaut fight as a boss fight, which is why it's capitalized, though I may change that in a future update depending on the responses._

_Disclaimer... again: I don't own anything but the Original Characters, like Zion!_

**Chapter 13- Scaling Edenhall**

Beyond the doors that led to the Quarantine Zone was a bridge that led into Edenhall itself. As the l'Cie looked around, they realized that though they had only been on the third floor of the base, they appeared to be at least five stories above the ground on this side of the wall. Luckily for them, this meant that they were out of eyesight of the various creatures roaming and occasionally fighting underneath them, especially the adamantoise that was roaming around.

It seemed that Hope was the most worried of all the warriors. "All of those creatures were hidden in the Ark?"

Fang looked at the creatures below them, then back at Hope. "These are probably just the tip of the iceberg. It's taken a year for the soldiers to push them back this far, and who knows how many they've killed in the process. Not to mention that some of them have managed to escape Eden and are wandering other parts of Cocoon."

Zion nodded his confirmation. "And that's assuming that Barthandelus was able to unlock all of the stasis fields within the Ark. Who knows the total number of creatures that were housed there."

Sazh looked down at the various creatures as well. "I don't see any Cie'th. I wonder if they've all been killed."

"It's not likely. They're probably inside. They don't tend to go outside of the areas they were transformed in, and most of those we saw before were within Edenhall itself." Vanille mused her response to Sazh's inquiry.

"Well, no offense, but I really hope we don't have to deal with many of those." Snow gestured to the adamantoise in the distance. "They were bad enough to face in the open areas of Pulse. The confines of Edenhall would make it almost impossible for us to not get beaten down by one of them."

Lightning looked at Snow. "I doubt that there will be any of them inside, they wouldn't have the room to move. We really should get going." With that, she turned and made her way across the bridge, followed by the others.

Once inside the building, the group noticed that indeed, the adamantoise was limited to outside. However, the maze of walkways above them seemed to be even more confusing this time around than last. The portals to Eden and Pulse were no longer active, they'd been sealed off when the creatures began to slip through them, though the l'Cie weren't going to Orphan's Cradle this time anyway.

The paths to the upper areas of Edenhall were filled with creatures from Pulse as well as Cie'th. By now, however, the gang had enough experience to dispatch the vampires fairly easily, though the behemoth kings and tyrants still caused them some trouble. Generally speaking, the seven warriors would charge into battle, while Serah would take Dajh and find a safe place to hide. Occasionally, that wouldn't be possible, so the others would have to keep an eye on the two.

About halfway up, the group found a spot to rest, after clearing out the local inhabitants. Dajh had complained that he was hungry, and because the group hadn't eaten since before they left Nautilus, they all decided to rest and have some of the rations they'd prepared the previous night. Serah remembered that Zion had handed out his rations to the stranded family earlier, and offered him one of hers, which he politely declined.

Once they had finished their break, the continued up the tower. The second half was pretty much the same as the first, though there was a lot more open space to work with. There were also some flying creatures that would occasionally harass the l'Cie, though they weren't any tougher than the rest of the creatures.

As they neared the top of the tower, a slight rumbling could be heard, though the creature that was creating it couldn't be seen. Zion, who was the only one who'd been in this part of the tower before, realized what they were hearing. "I'd bet that whatever that is, we'll have to get past it to get to the top floors of the tower."

Sazh wasn't happy about that comment. "Yeah, and I'd bet that it's probably what was shooting at us earlier."

Vanille wasn't too concerned, though. "Well, it shouldn't be too tough, and once we're past it we'll be done fighting for a while, right?"

Fang looked at her adopted sister as if she was speaking an unfamiliar language. "You do realize that whatever it is that's up there is probably going to be a bit tougher than what we've seen so far in here, especially if it really is what was firing at us earlier."

Lightning sighed and spoke up now. "It doesn't matter if it is. We'll need to get past it to get to the computer either way. Just be careful, especially you two." She glanced at Serah and Dajh as she spoke the last bit. The others nodded and continued up the path toward the noise.

Eventually they reached a platform with a ramp leading up into the ceiling above them. From here, they could tell that the rumbling was coming from somewhere in the room above the ramp. Also, now that they were closer, they could hear a mechanical whirring occasionally. Zion stopped on the platform and turned to the others.

"At the top of this ramp is a chamber with a security door that leads into what used to be the private offices of the heads of Cocoon's political leaders, including the Primarch. Odds are, it's the security door that is keeping the monsters from going further, though I don't know why." He looked behind him, and noticed that part of the room seemed bathed in a yellow-orange glow. The sun had begun to set in Cocoon, and apparently pieces of the wall were missing from the chamber, and letting that light into the room.

"Make sure you're ready for a fight, because whatever it is that's up here, I doubt it's friendly. You can also get some supplies from that computer over there, if it's still active." Zion pointed to a small computer against the wall at the base of the platform they were on. Lightning and Fang both went over to the computer and, finding it to indeed still be active, bought a few supplies, then returned to the rest of the group, handing the items out.

When they were ready, the l'Cie went up the ramp, into the chamber above. Looking around, they noticed that there were several holes in the walls, as well as what appeared to be scorch marks everywhere. In various places around the room were what appeared to be bodies of various creatures, including behemoths and Cie'th, all of them with burn marks, and many of them with severe damage beyond the burns. In one corner of the room, near the only door that was visible, sat a pile of mechanical debris.

As the group spread out around the room, Vanille ended up walking toward the metal scrap. As she did, the scrap began to move and whir, causing everyone's attention to turn toward it. Vanille gasped, and jumped back, as the debris moved aside, revealing a ten foot tall machine, similar to the Juggernauts found on Pulse. As soon as it was upright, it pointed its left arm out, and a stream of flame flew toward the group, forcing all of them to dodge out of the way.

As soon as the machine was done with its flamethrower attack, it sent a large fireball at Sazh and Snow, who were the furthest from it. The ball traveled fast, considering its size, and the two were barely able to dodge out of the way. The creature then charged at Zion and Fang, who had been closest to the middle of the room. The two leaped to either side of the charging beast, before landing and charging back at it.

As they did so, Lightning, and Hope began pelting the creature with various elemental spells, while Vanille began to attempt to debuff it. Sazh, having recovered from his sprawl, came up firing, and Snow joined Zion and Fang in getting in the beast's face. Serah, as she normally did, took Dajh to the safest part of the room she could find, though, when the machine started spraying fire all over the area again, she ended up finding herself trying to shield him and move him out of harms way more than she was sitting still.

After the second flamethrower attack, the machine pulled out a different move, it swung its large right arm at Snow and Zion, who were in front of it. Snow had seen the arm coming toward him, and was able to dodge out of the way, but Zion was still recovering from dodging the fire attack, and wasn't able to move in time. Not only did the machine's punch hurt, but it sent Zion sliding back a good twenty feet. Grumbling, Zion realized that physical attacks weren't doing much against this creature, so he switched to his ravager abilities.

By now Lightning and Hope had realized that water was the most effective element against this creature, so the three began to repeatedly cast water attacks on it. Fang, realizing as Zion had that the machine was resistant to physical attacks, had now switched over to sentinel, and now Snow did as well. Vanille was busy trying to keep the group somewhat healed, as well as keeping the machine weakened, while Sazh had started to cast various buffs on the party, in addition to occasionally shooting spells at the machine.

So the battle went, the machine would charge at a person or group of people, then when it was in range, would try to pound them with its massive arms. When nobody was within range, it would use either its flamethrower or fireball attacks to keep everyone busy from a distance. Lightning, Zion, and Hope would stay on the offensive as much as possible, while Snow and Fang attempted to keep the machine occupied with them. Sazh and Vanille would keep continually casting assist magic on everyone, occasionally switching to offensive or healing as needed.

It seemed like it took forever, but really, it was just over ten minutes for the gang to take down the massive creature. As it fell in defeat, the group let out a collective sigh of relief. Vanille cast a few cure spells to heal the party, then, sat down against a wall, exhausted from the fight. Hope, who had been closest to her, was the first to be by her side, and he gave her a potion to help her recover her energy faster, smiling and reassuring her. "Hey, it's over, you've earned a rest, and you'll get one, once we're in the office area, all right?" Vanille nodded her confirmation, and with Hope's help, stood up and started for the door.

Before they got too far, an explosion occurred within the mechanical pile of debris, getting everyone's attention. Where the pile of rubble once stood, now there was what appeared to be a Cie'th, but with most of its lower body and arms covered in wires and metal.

Sazh couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Was that thing INSIDE the Juggernaut?"

Zion looked at the new creature and nodded grimly. "It would explain why it was tougher than the others we've seen. Though, I don't think it's from Pulse, and neither does your son." He nodded over to Serah and Dajh, who were near the door, and a confused and shocked look on both their faces told Sazh that Dajh hadn't sensed this creature either, meaning Zion was right, it wasn't from Pulse. But if that's the case, where was it from?

Nobody had time to ponder that question, as the Cie'th charged at the group. Now that it had shed its armor, it was much faster then before, and had assaulted Sazh, Zion, and Snow before anyone could draw their weapons to counter. After its fast assault, it jumped back and started spraying fireballs at everyone. These fireballs weren't nearly as big as the ones it had launched when it was armored, but like the creature itself, they were much faster, and the gang wasn't all able to dodge them.

Fang let out a curse as she was knocked to the ground by one, while another barely grazed Lightning's shoulder. Serah and Dajh were forced once again to scramble out of the way of the attacks, but thankfully they were far enough away that they had the time to do so.

The group spread out once again, hoping to keep the new creature from attacking them all at once. Without the armor, the creature was now more vulnerable to physical assaults, but getting close enough to hit him was extremely risky, since it was fast enough to counter attack. Because of this, the group mostly went to the same roles they had been using to fight the earlier version. The only difference was that Sazh was using his guns normally, instead of using them for spell casting.

For all the creature's speed, it had already been injured in the previous round, and as such, it didn't take too long for the now armor free beast to fall. Once it did, everyone was proud, though they had to wonder once again where it had come from. Before anyone could take a close look at it, however, the armor, and the creature that had been inside it, dissolved into a black smoke that evaporated into the air.

"What was THAT?" Snow couldn't help but wonder about what had happened.

"You got me, I've never seen anything like it before." Zion's reply wasn't very comforting to the group. He turned and looked at them, and then added. "When we see Blaine again, we'll have to ask him about what he knows. In the meantime, let's go find what we came here for, all right?" With that, he headed for the door.

The door didn't look like it was anything special, but Serah had been trying since the creature had fallen to open it, but had been unable to do so. Zion was unable to suppress a small chuckle as he shook his head while walking over to her. "Serah, the door is protected. You need a pass code to unlock it."

Sazh just looked at Zion curiously. "We need a pass code? Great, how the hell are we supposed to get THAT?"

"We already have it." Zion stepped to the side of the door, and pushed a particular spot next to the handle. As he did so, a panel on the opposite side of the door opened up, revealing a scanner. Zion undid the bandage over his left forearm, and the brand that was revealed could be seen to be glowing. As he held it up to the scanner, it beeped, and a metallic clang was heard. Zion then pushed on the door, and it opened.

"You have to be l'Cie to enter?" Lightning couldn't believe that the entire leadership of Cocoon had actually been slaves to Barthandelus, though she had to admit it probably wasn't too far fetched, considering what he'd done.

"There are two valid codes to unlock this door, the l'Cie brand or an I.D. badge of the Sanctum Council. Since none of us are with the Council, we just have to use our other badge."

"But why would Barthandelus allow l'Cie to enter these chambers?" Sazh was always going to be a skeptic, but nobody could blame him, considering what he'd been through in his life.

"It never occurred to him that a l'Cie that was working for his enemy would be able to get this far. By the time I proved him wrong, it was no longer possible for him to change the programming of the device, at least not without making his sins public knowledge."

"Because if he had to change security protocol, he would also have to admit that a l'Cie had been able to come into his inner chambers. And admitting that would cast doubt and suspicion on him." Hope was obviously not trying to speak aloud, but everyone could hear him just the same.

It was Vanille who confirmed his suspicions, though. "The suspicions that would have been cast would have derailed his plans, and he couldn't afford it. He had to accept the hole in his security system and hope that nobody else found out about it before he could complete his goals."

"Bloody hell, is there anything he wouldn't sacrifice in order to bring about the end of Cocoon?" Fang was apparently not aware of this idea until now, which surprised Zion a little bit. He had assumed that she would have picked up on this immediately. The Cocoon natives wouldn't have had any knowledge of Barthandelus' plans or ambitions like the Pulsians did, so he didn't think they'd know about any of this.

As they continued speaking, the group walked through the door, and up another flight of stairs to hallway. At the end of the hallway was another set of steps leading further up the tower. On the left side of the hall were three doors, on the right side was one door. The hall itself looked as if it hadn't been touched since the fall of Eden. There was quite a bit of dust settled all over everything, but no bodies and no signs that anyone had been here since Barthandelus' death.

The door closing behind them startled most members of the group. "The doors here are the offices of Barthandelus and his three top advisers. The stairs ahead lead to another floor of offices, I believe there are eight up above. The floor above that has another eight offices. The offices there are for the other members of the Sanctum Council. Above that is a hanger, where the members of the Council parked. The top floor is the Council's meeting chambers, which I'm assuming you have all seen on TV before."

He led the group into the room on the right as he continued to explain. "The reason Barthandelus has his office on this floor instead of one closer to the chambers is that when it was originally built, the entire top of this tower was his private quarters. It wasn't until he could no longer control Cocoon by himself that he established the Council and divided the top floors into offices for its members. He kept this particular office because he had his computer here, and couldn't move it."

Zion opened the door to let everyone enter. Inside the room appeared to actually be more of an apartment than an office. There was a couch in the middle, with a TV along one of the walls. Vanille immediately made her way to this piece of furniture, as did Serah and Dajh. Across from the door was a large window, which was made of a material designed to withstand almost anything. In front of the window was a desk fitting of a politician. Sitting on the desk was a computer monitor and keyboard, with a video phone sitting next to it. Lightning moved immediately to the video phone to call up Col. Tran in Siren Park.

"Colonel, we've made it to Barthandelus' office." Lightning reported as soon as he appeared on the monitor.

"Good job. I wasn't sure if you would for a while there. The security systems on that platform above the network access are all fried, and we don't have the clearance to get to the ones in the Council's private chambers."

Zion approached the monitor to speak to the soldier now. "If we have the time, we'll see about getting you access to this area. In the meantime, we will share what we find with you as much as possible."

Lightning looked over as Sazh started to work on the computer. From the way the phone was positioned, Col. Tran could see everything happening at the desk, though he couldn't see the computer monitor. He was forced to listen patiently as the l'Cie worked.

_A/N: OK, so this is a strange place to stop the chapter, but I wanted to put the entire computer and discovery part in one piece, so it'll all be next time, as well as some more revelations._

_To A113, Silver, and Destiny Dispair: Thanks for the reviews. I hope I don't disappoint in future chapters. I'd also like to thank everyone who's added me and/or this story to their favorites, if I haven't mentioned you by name, I apologize, some of my messages got deleted._

_Please review or comment!_


	14. Barthandelus' Legacy

_A/N: OK, this time around we get a few pieces of our puzzle to fall into place, and a few new pieces are created. Did I mention this is going to be a LONG story?_

_Disclaimer: Can someone please get me ownership of Final Fantasy for the holidays? Is that too much to ask for?_

**Chapter 14- Barthandelus' Legacy**

Sazh had taken control of the computer and began to power it up. "Well, it still boots up, that's a miracle in itself." Though the comment was to himself, it was loud enough everyone could hear it.

"This area is on a separate power supply from the rest of the tower. That's why the security systems are still operational here where they are mostly broken down below." By this point, nobody was surprised by Zion's knowledge of Edenhall. It was fairly obvious that he had been fully briefed on everything he needed to know about it when he had taken on his original Focus. Anything he hadn't already known, he was aware enough to have probably picked it up on the way.

"Ah, so that's why we weren't able to get into the system." Col. Tran was still on the line, and obviously could hear everything being said at the desk. Zion was standing behind Sazh and Lightning, helping them with their work. Vanille had all but fallen asleep on the couch, while Serah was keeping Dajh occupied for his father. Hope, Snow, and Fang had all wandered off down the hallway, probably to see what else there was in this part of the tower, since it appeared undisturbed. They were all smart enough to not go back down the stairs and into the damaged areas, so nobody was too concerned about them.

"All right, so it's wanting a password now." Sazh had come to the computer's log in screen, which was asking for identification. Zion looked at it and frowned for a second. It had been over 500 years since he had been here, and he wasn't sure if the password was still the same. That said, Barthandelus was arrogant enough to probably assume that his entry into the system was a fluke, and wouldn't bother to change it.

"Last time, the password was 'origin.' I doubt he'd change it, it would actually mean he'd have to admit he made a mistake."

"Yeah, well, you'd better be right, if you're not, knowing Barthandelus, he's got this thing rigged to blow if we make a mistake." For once, Lightning was more pessimistic than Sazh. She was also completely right.

"Well, it's all we have to go on, and I don't think we have the time to hack it, so here goes nothing." Sazh commented as he typed in the given password. When he hit enter, the computer whirred to life, bringing up all of Barthandelus' data as if the fal'Cie himself had been the one who was sitting there. "Well, it worked, we're in. So, what do we look for?"

Lightning answered his request. "Anything pertaining to our Focus. Specifically, the Maker."

"Hey, I thought you said that he would keep his data on a computer that's not on the network!" Tran was still paying attention to the l'Cie's work apparently, and had to have his say. "That one's been connected since we got the power up and running."

"You've had access to this computer the entire time?" Sazh wasn't happy about having his time wasted. Though he was apparently angry about this revelation, Lightning noticed that Zion almost expected it. In fact, he was now looking around the room, analyzing it.

"He's right, Sazh, you probably won't be able to get anything pertaining to the Focus on there. That said, Barthandelus did have some experiments that were official, and they WOULD be there. Search them for anything relating to unusual or unexplained items." It took a minute, but Light realized quickly what Zion was asking Sazh to search for.

As Sazh began his search, Zion continued to look around the room, as if he was searching for something. About that time, Fang and Hope had returned to the room. Hope was noticibly excited, but Fang just seemed tired, as she sat down on the floor with her back against the wall.

"What's going on, Hope?" Serah had seen him come in first.

"We found an airship in the hangar. It appears that it may still be operational." Everyone realized now what Hope was happy about. Since the group had started on their Focus in such a hurry, they had been forced to rely on public transportation since arriving on Cocoon. If they could get their own airship, they could travel where and when they wanted to.

Sazh looked up from the computer at Hope. "That's good. By the way, where's Snow?"

"Oh, he's trying to see if it will still work." Sazh's face paled at the thought of Snow operating anything mechanical.

"Serah, can you go get your fiance back down here before he blows something up?" Apparently Lightning shared Sazh's worries. Serah nodded and left the room as Hope sat down next to Dajh and started playing with him.

Sazh returned to the computer, but after a minute, his face seemed to gain a concerned expression, which was almost immediately noticed by Col. Tran. "What's wrong?"

"The computer is asking for a password to access something." Sazh looked up at Zion who appeared to not know what the older man was talking about either. He went back to look at the screen over Sazh's shoulder, as Lightning looked at it as well.

"That sneaky bastard, he actually DID update the system." Zion was almost surprised at the fact that the files were protected. "Sazh, I'm sorry, but it looks like you might have to try your hacking skills after all."

"Maybe not. Give us a minute and we may be able to get the password for you." Tran disappeared from the phone's screen before anyone could say anything, so they decided to give him a little time. The group sitting near the phone could hear him giving orders to those under his command, but what was being said, they could only guess. As that conversation was going on, Zion walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the room and opened it, apparently searching for something. After about a minute, the box asking for a password disappeared, and the screen started listing off results of Sazh's search.

"Okay, I'm in. Now what?" Sazh looked over at Zion, who pulled several blank disks out of the cabinet and tossed them to the hacker.

"Copy everything. You never know if something useful is within it." Lightning glanced at Zion, then nodded to Sazh to go ahead. He stuck the first disk into the computer and began copying the files in chunks, five or six at a time, so that he could make sure that he didn't overload the disk. As he was doing so, Snow and Serah returned to the room, with Snow still complaining about being pulled away from the aircraft upstairs.

"Ugh, boys and their toys." Lightning complained, which got Fang's attention.

"Yeah, like you're any better, with all that tinkering you did with our weapons."

"Hey, we all had our uses last time, you know." Snow piped up.

"And we still do." Nobody had noticed that the commotion had woken Vanille up until she spoke. Everyone turned to her, and she waved them off. "I'm fine. Just needed a little rest." She smiled and got off of the couch, sitting next to Hope and Dajh on the floor. "So what did I miss?"

"We found an airship in the hangar that's still operational. I was trying to see if it could still fly when Serah pulled me out and drug me back down here." Snow was putting on his best hurt look, but everyone knew that he was only faking.

"Yeah, well, we all know how impulsive you are. It would be our luck that if it didn't turn on right away, you'd bash it and make it so it didn't work at all, and that won't do us any good!" Sazh was lightheartedly admonishing the younger man.

Snow wasn't about to take this lying down, however. "Yeah, well, you're just jealous that I found it before you could!"

Sazh opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when Lightning grabbed him. "Sazh, stop." She was pointing to the screen. "Open that file." Sazh did as the lieutenant asked, and was greeted with all the data that Barthandelus had acquired on a certain Pulse artifact.

Sazh looked at her curiously, then started reading the file out loud for the rest of the room."We recovered during our search of Pulse today a small piece of metal. This metal piece appears to have magical properties, and it cannot be touched by anyone, it appears. We have managed to put it inside a locked box for transport to Cocoon for Lord Barthandelus to look at." Sazh stopped here, as that was the end of the file.

Before he could ask any questions, a small silver piece of metal rolled across the desk. Sazh went to touch it, but Lighting grabbed his hand before he could. "That is what that file refers to." She pulled out a handkerchief and grabbed the rod using it as a barrier, much to everyone's shock. Well, everyone but Zion, anyway.

Snow was the first to speak up. "How do you know about this, sis?"

Serah hit him on the head after he asked the question. "Because it's probably what injured her earlier, genius!" Lightning nodded her head in confirmation, then looked at Zion to tell the others about it.

Zion sighed slightly before speaking. "This rod is something I picked up when I was here over 500 years ago. In fact, I found it inside this very room." He paused for a minute and looked around. "Though, I believe the room was bigger then." He looked around again, then shrugged and went back to his story. "I'd seen that article that you just read, Sazh. When I grabbed the rod, I found out that for some reason, I could handle it without any protection, but that I seemed to be the only one capable of it. There should be at least two more files relating to this rod somewhere in those files, though I never had a chance to look at all of them, so there could be even more than that."

"So, what is it? Where did it come from?" Fang was as curious as anyone about this development.

"I don't know. I'd meant to ask Blaine about it, but I never had the chance. It appears that even Barthandelus didn't know anything about this device before I stole it. As far as I could tell from what I did read about this thing, it came from Pulse and it was discovered when Cocoon was first being built over 1300 years ago. I didn't have time then to see if it mentioned where the object was found, however." As he spoke, he took the rod back from Lighting and placed it back in the pouch he'd gotten it from.

"So, what about the magical properties then?"

Lightning spoke up this time. "It seems to have some sort of a barrier preventing anyone from directly touching it. If someone does so, it will shock the hell out of them, and leave whatever touched it numb, like my arm this morning."

Zion added in to the conversation now. "That is why we didn't notice her injury at the time, we thought that the numbness was a result of the rod. For some reason, the rod's effects are unaffected by healing spells, and I don't know why. We never tried to use Cure because we had no reason to think we should."

Fang looked at the group and shook her head. "Well, this is all well and good, but how the bloody hell does it help our Focus?"

Hope spoke up now. "As far as I can tell, it doesn't, but I doubt that Zion would bring us here just to satisfy his own curiosity." He looked directly at Zion now. "You said that this room was smaller now than it was 500 years ago?"

Zion looked at him, and smirked. "Yes, it is. This wall here should be another ten or twelve feet back." He gestured to the wall across from the couch and TV as he walked over to it. Sazh and Lightning looked at each other before getting up and following him, with Lightning turning around the phone so that Col. Tran could see what was happening.

"You have that thing on speaker?" Sazh asked, seeing what Lightning had done.

"It is on our end, so he can hear us and we can hear him, but I don't think we can hear what's going on around him." Sazh nodded at this statement as they approached Zion, who was taking a close look at the wall, feeling it with his hand, seeming to be searching for something. "You need some help, Zion?"

"No, not yet, at least. I'm just looking for..." He paused as a click was heard and the wall shook. Then a part of it slid back slightly and to the left, behind the part that stayed still, revealing another part of the room, with a very large computer in it.

Sazh stepped around Zion and began to boot up the computer, but grumbled as the screen turned on. "Damn thing is in the Pulse language!"

Fang shook her head. The three Pulsians could obviously read what was written on the computer, but neither of the females knew much about machines. Zion just tapped Sazh on the shoulder. "That's why I'm here." Sazh stepped aside as Zion looked at the screen. "It's saying that it can't start up due to a security program blocking it."

"Well, that doesn't do us much good. How can we get into the computer if there's a program blocking access?" Sazh was a little frustrated at this new information.

Zion simply shook his head and looked at the computer itself. He noticed almost immediately that the reason the computer was so big is that it was actually two computers connected together to look like one. As he looked them over, his hand hit a small switch on the top of one of the machines. When the switch was triggered, a panel slid open revealing one button and a small cylindrical hole, about the size of the metal rod Zion had.

"What is that?" Sazh's question got everyone's attention, and they all came over to look at the machine. Zion was looking at the hole, wondering the exact same thing.

"I don't know. This part looks like something taken from a temple on Pulse, but I've never seen an interface like this before." He gestured to the button and hole. "Though, I wonder if they're from the same place." He pulled out the rod as he was speaking, and it immediately reacted with the machine.

It began to whir, as a second screen popped up, explaining, in Pulsian, that the primary program was running. A second later, out of all the corners of the room, small gun-like machines appeared, and out of the barrel appeared a blue light. In the center of the room, in the middle of the group, a hologram appeared. The hologram took a few seconds to come completely into focus, but when it did, everyone let out a gasp of horror and confusion. The hologram was facing Sazh and Lightning, standing to the right of Zion, who was hidden by the edge of the wall. The hologram spoke only two words, to let the group know that something bad was happening. "Hello, Claire."

Lightning glared at the hologram, and spoke to him with disgust. "Barthandelus. You're dead."

The human form of Barthandelus laughed at Lightning's comment. "That I am, child. I must admit, I am quite impressed that you made it here." He looked around the room at the assembled l'Cie, still unable to see Zion, as his back was now to the computer that had spawned him. "And I see you have reacquired your friends from Pulse. I take it you are here on behalf of another fal'Cie."

"Of course we are, you bloody bastard." Fang was ready to strike the former Primarch down where he stood, except he was a hologram, and she couldn't actually touch him. "We need information on whatever it is you were keeping locked away."

Barthandelus laughed again. "Oh, yes, that. It is a shame that I am not in a giving mood. You are all the reason that I am no longer alive. You are the reason that I am now reduced to a hologram linked to a computer's memory, on which a copy of my memories and mind was imprinted. And most importantly, you are the reason that this world AND Pulse will be destroyed!"

Zion had been looking the computer over more as Barthandelus had appeared and begun speaking to the other l'Cie. Having seen what he needed, he spoke up now. "That's a shame, Dysley. Guess we don't have a use for you then, do we?"

Barthandelus turned around at Zion's voice. As he recognized the old l'Cie, he couldn't hide the rage in his voice. "YOU! You have been a pain in my neck for over five hundred years! I should have made you my slave when I had the chance!"

Zion smirked at the comments made by the fal'Cie's ghost. "Perhaps, but it's too late now, isn't it?" He looked at the hologram for a second, his smirk turning into a scowl. "We don't need you to get the information we seek. Consider it a courtesy that you are still here right now." As he spoke, he produced the metal rod from the pouch and held it in his hand.

"What? How? That's impossible!" Barthandelus couldn't believe that a lowly l'Cie could hang on to that rod when even someone as powerful as he couldn't touch it. He was reacting with something that nobody had ever seen from him before, fear.

Zion smirked again. This was something that he had been wanting to see for a long time, and he wasn't about to let it go without saying his peace. "Barthandelus, your body was destroyed fourteen months ago. Look out that window. That is your legacy. Thousands of lives have been lost, thousands more lie in ruin. And for what? You know as well as the rest of us that even if you had been successful, you would have died in the process. You would have never met the Maker, and you would have sacrificed millions on a fool's whim. Now you stand there, angry about losing, but unable to do anything about it other than ridicule us and get in our way. What a pathetic creature you truly are."

The former fal'Cie couldn't believe what he was hearing. NOBODY talked to him this way, NOBODY treated him like garbage. He tried to summon up some energy to attack Zion, but, being a hologram, he was unanable to anything. Zion, seeing this inserted the rod into the hole, causing the entire machine to power up completely. Barthandelus watched Zion helplessly, realizing that with the rod in place, pressing the large button next to it would cause a wipe of the security system on the computer, killing Barthandelus in the process. Sighing in defeat, he looked at Zion with contempt on his face. "You will NEVER be able to save this world without my knowledge."

Zion looked at the fallen creature and sighed himself, before walking toward the hologram. "You're right, we won't." Barthandelus sighed again, this time in relief. His relief was short lived, however, when Hope, who had walked over next to Zion and the others, spoke up.

"But that doesn't mean we need YOU." With that he turned and pressed the button. Barthandelus growled angrily and then yelled as if he was in pain, as the machine wiped the hologram interface from its memory. The hologram flickered and shuddered, as Barthandelus continued to scream and curse at the l'Cie, before completely flickering out, leaving only the raw programmed data behind inside the computer.

"Nice work, Hope. But how did you know what Zion was doing?" Snow couldn't quite believe what had happened, and he was pretty sure he wasn't the only one.

"I watched them. Zion knew what he was doing with the computer, and so did Barthandelus. He was afraid of that button once Zion put the rod in, I could only assume that pressing it would wipe him from the computer."

Hope looked a little ashamed of his actions, his head hung down, as if he was being scolded. Snow shook his head and patted the younger man on the shoulder. "Good work, Hope. I'm proud of you."

Zion had gone back to the computer as the two were talking, and had begun to work on it. He had been typing for a few seconds, when his voice got everyone's attention. "Oh no."

Vanille was beside him in a second. She had come up and embraced Hope after Snow had congratulated him, but Zion's comment took her attention away just as quickly. "What's wrong?"

Zion appeared to ignore Vanille for the moment, as he continued typing and cursing to himself. "Dammit. This is not good." He looked over to the other monitor, the one that had popped up when the panel had been opened, then back to the computer monitor he was working on.

"What's not good?" Serah had Dajh in her arms, and had walked up to the group, hearing all of the conversation in the process. She looked at Lightning and Sazh, who just shrugged.

"No, this isn't right." Zion continued to ignore everyone, typing away on the computer.

"Zion, what's going on?" Lightning's voice seemed to break through Zion's concentration, as he paused and glanced at her.

"The button, it did more than fry Barthandelus. I think it caused a huge power surge throughout the entire system up here."

"Okay, what exactly does that mean?" Sazh wasn't comfortable with the explanation that he was being given. He had an idea what that meant, and he didn't like it at all.

Zion sighed before answering. "The security system that had been keeping the creatures out of this area is failing. In a couple minutes, that door downstairs is going to be unlocked, and we're going to be flooded with enemies." He looked at Sazh again, then back to the computer. "Go upstairs and get that airship ready to go. Take Dajh, Serah, and Snow with you." Sazh nodded and the four of them took off. Zion turned his attention to Lightning now. "I can't download all of the data in time. I need to connect this computer to the network, but to do that, I'll need to talk to Col. Tran directly, can you bring me the phone?"

Lightning did as she had been asked, bringing the video phone to Zion. As she did so, she had to wonder. "Why did you have those four go and the rest of us stay?"

"Dajh and Serah aren't fighters, and Snow can help protect them should they need it. Besides, you and I both know he wouldn't leave her side right now if he didn't have to."

Fang caught the meaning of his words, but apparently Vanille didn't. "But why not all of us?"

"Because we may need to fight our way up to the airship, and it's much easier with five of us than with just one." Fang had responded for Zion, who was busy conversing with the Colonel.

Hope spoke up as well. "Besides, Sazh is smart enough to know that if we don't make it before the creatures do, he's to take off without us."

"But why would he do that?" Vanille's innocence could sometimes be annoying.

"Because if the creatures get to the airship first, we won't be able to." Lightning's emotionless comment sent chills down everyone's backs. Before anyone else could respond, sounds of fighting could be heard downstairs, followed by a loud crash. "Dammit. Hurry up, Zion!" Lightning left the room, running into the hallway and firing off a couple of shots down the stairs. Fang was right behind her, charging down the steps into the fray.

Zion mumbled something, but finished typing soon after Lightning left the room, then pressing a button on the phone, shutting it off, he grabbed the rod out of the computer, which caused the lights to flicker, before dimming completely and emergency lighting to activate, which bathed everything in a crimson glow. He then hit the small lever that had opened the wall, which reversed the process this time, before turning to the others. "Okay, we're done here. Let's go to Sazh and head for Euride." The two younger l'Cie nodded and ran out the door, behind Fang and Lightning, who were doing their best to hold off the approaching creatures. "Ladies, time to go!"

Fang jumped back out of the reach of a behemoth's claw, and ran up the stairs, as Lightning and Zion provided cover fire, literally. The stairwell became engulfed in flame as the two retreated, following the others up the stairs to the hangar. Sazh, true to his word, had already gotten the aircraft started, and was waiting for everyone to get aboard before taking off for their next destination.

_A/N: Wow, I thought this chapter was a lot longer than the word count says it is. Oh well, maybe I'm just not trying hard enough._

_Anyway, next time, the gang heads for Euride as Zion reveals some more of his own past, as well as that of Pulse, before they hit a small bump in the road._

_To a113: Thanks for the advice. Truth be told, I had planned on this story being much darker and more violent than it has been so far. That said, in the next chapter I do have some cursing and a lot of killing, though I don't go into extreme detail (yes, I've already started work on it) so I'm preferring to err on the side of caution._

_Please review and leave comments!_


	15. The Path to Euride

_A/N: Wow, this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I'd planned on. But I think it's worth it. We find out a little bit more about Zion's past, and raise a few more questions in the process._

_Also, I'd like to apologize for the week's delay in the appearance of this chapter. A few friends of mine were bugging me about not contiunig my X-Men story, so I decided to do that before I went back to this one. I would also like to note that I will be writing more X-Men stories, for those of you who have been reading both, and once I start the second story of X-Men, I will most likely alternate weeks between the two stories. Sorry about this, but I only have so much time._

_Disclaimer: Square Enix is its own entity, it does not belong to me... yet._

**Chapter 15- The Path to Euride**

"Nice airship." The communication came through the radio as soon as the l'Cie had left Edenhall. Lightning took the radio herself.

"Thank you, sir. We're heading for Euride now, and will speak with Col. Amodar once we're close to the plant."

"Very well. Siren Park Out." And with that the radio drifted off into silence, and Lightning looked around the ship. Contrary to what would have been expected of the elite of Cocoon's politics, this ship wasn't designed for luxury. In fact, to Light, it seemed more like a troop transport.

There were two seats in the cockpit, occupied by Sazh and herself. There was one step down from the cockpit to the rest of the airship where everyone else was. Instead of seats, there was actually a bench along each side, facing the middle and running the length of the cabin. There was easily enough room on each side for ten people to sit comfortably, and with only seven total, most of the others had taken to relaxing or laying down on these benches. The chair Lightning was in was able to turn completely around so that she could talk to the people on the benches, since there was no wall between the cabin and the cockpit. The various l'Cie were spread out around the two benches, most of them laying down. Having taken it all in, Lightning just sighed and turned back around, so that she was facing forward, looking out the windshield.

The gang rode in silence for a while, until Vanille spoke up. "Zion? What Barthandelus said, you met him before you were l'Cie, didn't you?" Zion's eyes were closed, and he didn't respond right away, so everyone would have thought he was asleep, except that he had cringed at the mention of Barthandelus. After a minute or so, he sighed and sat up, looking at his adopted sister.

"No, it wasn't." This revelation got everyone's attention, as Lightning turned around to listen to what he had to say as well as everyone in the back. Sazh couldn't turn around, since he had to fly the ship, but he was definitely paying attention.

"I thought you said you'd never been to Eden before you were l'Cie." Snow spoke up.

"I wasn't, but I had been on Cocoon, and I had met Barthandelus before then." Zion closed his eyes and hung his head, before looking around the room. "I suppose I should explain, shouldn't I?"

Everyone had some sort of reaction to Zion's comment, and he sighed once again before continuing. "Well, first off, I should probably explain about the history of Cocoon and Pulse. Everyone knows that Cocoon was created a little over 1300 years ago, from debris and scrap that was found on Pulse. At least some of the first settlers on Cocoon were there willingly. Because of that, there was some animosity between Cocoon and Pulse from the start. Pulse thought that Cocoon's settlers turned their backs on them, while Cocoon saw that they were bettering themselves by going to the favored ground of the fal'Cie."

The others were all aware of this, and Zion knew it, so he didn't dwell on this topic very long. "The thing is, there were fal'Cie on both sides that were unhappy with this resentment, and they did whatever they could to ease it. In fact, at the time, there were many places where travel between Cocoon and Pulse was allowed, due to these sympathetic fal'Cie. Most people didn't know about these entry points, and most of those that did really didn't care about them that much, but there was some travel between the two worlds."

Now Zion was getting into things that the others didn't know about, and everyone was now listening intently as he continued. "One of these fal'Cie that was living in Cocoon was particularly sympathetic toward the cause of reunification of the two worlds. The village he was in was a fairly major gate to Pulse, and Barthandelus knew it.

"Barthandelus, as you all know, was as smart as he was evil. It is said that he maintained his control over Cocoon by appointing a new Primarch to lead the Sanctum, then killing him and taking his place, unknown to the public. He always had his old man form as his default human form, and would use it to conduct business that he couldn't do as Primarch."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hope didn't completely follow Zion's story so far, and the older man simply smiled at him and nodded.

"As the Primarch, Barthandelus pushed the policies he wanted, but he still couldn't get complete control. But, he had put his old man form in a powerful position as well, one that could control the military and do things that as Primarch he couldn't."

"But why didn't he have two forms when he was Dysley?" Serah was confused by the conversation as well.

"Because he didn't need to. At that point it wouldn't have mattered. Besides, Dysley would have been very old had he been alive as well, so the old man and Dysley would have looked similar enough that it would have raised questions." Sazh had guessed at the answer, but Zion's nod told him that he had been correct.

"Come on now, you're distracting him from his story!" Snow was actually being the voice of reason for once, which drew confused and curious looks from the others. In turn, Snow's face turned a fairly dark shade of red.

"He is right, though, we did get away from the story. About two years before I became a l'Cie, Barthandelus, in his old man form, recruited a group of about a hundred soldiers to execute a raid on the village where this fal'Cie lived. They were told they were looking for a terrorist that was using the village as a hiding point. When they arrived, they rounded up about a dozen families in the town's main meeting area, and interrogated them all one by one. All the families shared the ideals of the fal'Cie, though the soldiers weren't told this. They also weren't told that there was no terrorist.

"When they couldn't get any information from any of the families, the old man declared himself judge and jury, charged them all with treason, and ordered them all executed. The soldiers, not knowing any better, complied with the order, since the old man was considered a representative of the Primarch. When it was all done, just over 100 bodies were left laying in that building."

"That's horrible." Serah was on the verge of tears. Snow was holding her close, letting her sob into his shoulder.

"So, how do you fit in?" Lightning asked what everyone had wondered.

"I showed up the next morning. When I found out about it, I told the fal'Cie that I'd take care of the problem. Those who weren't singled out had said that the soldiers had left on foot. The following night, I found them halfway back to Nautilus." He closed his eyes as he remembered the events. "I took Draco, and we laid waste to the camp. At the time, I had a different sword than this one. The one I used then was a replica of the Zankarran, and it had magical properties, which let me use magic even though I wasn't a l'Cie. Because of this, I could do some things that l'Cie can, as far as spells go. We killed them all, burned all the tents, destroyed everything." It was somewhat obvious to see Zion speaking about this that he wasn't proud of what he'd done, and most of the l'Cie listening were sympathetic to him for it.

"So, what happened then?" Vanille, who'd gotten the conversation started was now regretting it somewhat. All the same, she was interested in the outcome.

"When we were done, I took off on Draco. As I did, I saw the old man amidst the fires. By the time I noticed him, he was already preparing a spell of his own to attack me with. At the time, I thought he was a l'Cie, and decided it was best to not get involved with someone like that, so we fled. It wasn't till much later that I learned it was Barthandelus."

Zion closed his eyes, wiping away a tear that had started to fall. Then, he shook his head, letting out a dry laugh which seemed to shock the others for a minute, until he spoke again. "Ever since that day I've cursed myself for not being there. I had decided to take a side trip on my way to that town, and because of that I arrived a day later than I was planning on. So, every day, I ask myself why I didn't go straight to that village, why I wasn't there to at least try to stop the massacre. And yet, even though I hold myself responsible for that night, I can't help but take a little solace in the fact that my delay may very well have saved some lives in the end."

"How did that massacre save lives?" Lightning wasn't happy with what Zion was saying, and she couldn't understand how he saved lives by letting a hundred people perish.

"Two reasons, really. First, by attacking the group and revealing myself to Barthandelus, it limited his options. He had to make public the idea that there was a terrorist within Cocoon, and that I was that terrorist. Because of this being made public, he couldn't take another unit on a raid without catching suspicion or risking public outcry. It also made people vigilant towards me, and in doing so, they saved their own lives by keeping track of me. The second reason is that Barthandelus actually got exactly what he wanted when he attacked that village."

"How so?" Fang wasn't sure what Zion was talking about any more than the rest of the group. This story was something he'd never shared with anyone, including his own sister.

"Those that survived the massacre held the fal'Cie responsible rather than me. They thought that the fal'Cie had betrayed them, abandoned them. Truth was, the fal'Cie couldn't interfere without sacrificing himself, which would have done more harm to his cause than the massacre itself would have. Besides, odds are that those people would have been executed even if the fal'Cie had interfered."

"So what happened?" Vanille spoke again.

"The people decided that since the fal'Cie abandoned them, they should abandon it. They all deserted the village, and the fal'Cie, unable to leave his home, was left by himself for the rest of his life."

"So what happened to the fal'Cie then?" Hope's curiosity matched that of the rest of the group, and he wasn't afraid to show it.

"He would have been destroyed, along with the entire village, during the War of Transgression. The village was located in what is now the Hanging Edge." This revelation suddenly made everything Zion had said the last couple of minutes make some sense. Because the people abandoned the village, they weren't killed in the war a few years later. It was a shame that the fal'Cie had perished, even if nobody was aware of it, but all told, it could very well have been worse.

"I'm sorry, Zion. I didn't know." Fang was feeling guilty about the heartache that Zion had. In doing so, she had said what everyone else in the group had felt. Zion turned to her and smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, but it's all right. You didn't know, nobody did. The massacre was never made public knowledge, nor was the slaughter of the troops. As far as the public was concerned there was a training exercise that went badly, and as for the lost lives in the village, it was attributed to a conflict of philosophy, or something like that. Fact is, as far as I'm aware, I'm the only one other than a couple of fal'Cie who know what happened during those two days."

Before anyone could speak further, the console in front of Sazh beeped. "What the... oh, SHIT!" Everyone looked at him for an explanation about his outburst, to which he added. "We were so busy making sure this thing could take off, we didn't check to see if it could get us where we're going. We're almost out of fuel!"

"How much further?" Lightning was already formulating a plan in her mind.

"I don't know. Maybe another twenty miles." As he spoke, several laser shots buzzed over their heads, prompting another curse from Sazh. "NOW what?"

The radio came to life in answer to Sazh's question. "Unidentified Airship, this is Cocoon Air Force ship Kraken. Identify yourselves or be shot down." Sazh looked somewhat alarmed by this communication, and immediately reached for the radio.

"This is Sazh Katzroy. I am a licensed cargo pilot. Don't shoot!"

"It's a little late for a cargo run, isn't it, Mr. Katzroy?" The voice on the other end didn't seem to believe Sazh, and Lightning took the radio to respond.

"This is Lieutenant Lightning Farron, of the Bodhum Guardian Corps. Mr. Katzroy is transporting civilians on this airship, not cargo."

"All the same, Lieutenant, we need to have your ship dock with ours so that we can inspect it. I'm afraid it's standard procedure for all unknown ships leaving Eden." As the radio crackled, a large airship flew overhead and began to settle in front of the l'Cie transport. Lightning didn't like the way this was setting up, and wasn't sure about complying right away.

"Can we speak to whoever is in charge over there? We have some concerns about boarding that we'd like to clarify first."

There was a silence after the request, and Lightning was starting to feel as if it was going to be denied, but eventually, a different voice came on the radio. "This is Col. Barnes, I am the Officer in Charge here. You will peacefully board our ship or we will be forced to shoot you down."

"There is no problem with that, since we are nearly out of fuel. Unfortunately in our haste we didn't check the level before take off. It would be greatly appreciated if we could get some assistance in getting to Euride Gorge."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Anything else?"

"The civilians on board our ship, they were treated badly under Sanctum authority, so they do not like military people. If it would be possible, can you please not have weapons pointed at them when we get there? I'm sure the last thing either of us want is a bloodbath."

"I'll see what we can do about that, though I can't guarantee anything. Now, if you would please board." As he spoke, the back end of the airship in front of them opened up, revealing a fairly large hangar. Lightning nodded to Sazh and he flew the ship into it, landing expertly when indicated to do so.

Once the ship was powered down, Lightning turned to the others, giving them all instructions. "Sazh and I will go out first and make sure everything is all right. Stay here until we call for you."

"And if this is a trap?"

"Then we do what we do best, Zion. We break right through it." Fang added a slight smirk to her reply, which didn't settle Lightning's sudden nervousness any. Nonetheless, she nodded, and the two left the ship and walked into the waiting group of soldiers.

After a minute, the group split apart, revealing doors that were sliding closed behind three men who had entered the hangar. By now, the door to the outside had been closed, and as such the wind inside had dissipated. The three soldiers walked up to Lightning and Sazh, and Lightning immediately saluted the man in the middle as he got close enough. "Col. Barnes, I presume?"

The man saluted Lightning, and they both dropped the salute at the same time. "You must be Lt. Ferron." He turned to the dark skinned l'Cie next to her. "And you are Sazh?" He held his hand out to the pilot.

"I am." Sazh shook the soldier's hand. "The others are not very happy about this, so they are going to stay inside for a minute."

"That is all right, but we do have the right to inspect the ship. We can't have anyone smuggling Cie'th or Pulse creatures out of that city, after all, can we?"

"No, I suppose we can't." Lightning paused for a second. Something about the man's tone put her on edge. "What is it you're not telling us?"

The Colonel sighed. "It is standard procedure that you all be relieved of your weapons, at least until we can confirm your identities. We can refuel your ship, and you can be on your way in a couple of hours, if everything checks out all right. Until then, I'm afraid I have to place you and the others on the ship under protective custody."

Lightning paused for a second, seeming to read the room. Realizing that at this point they had no choice, she reluctantly unsheathed her sword and handed it to one of the soldiers, the motioned for Sazh to do the same.

"The others aren't going to like this." Sazh commented as he drew his weapons, then handed them over to the soldier as well. After that, he turned back to the ship. "It's all right. Come on down."

The other seven l'Cie did as they had been requested, and paused slightly upon seeing that Lightning and Sazh had turned over their weapons. Zion, who had been in the lead of the group, instinctively grabbed for his sword, which caused several soldiers to draw their weapons and point them at him. Seeing this, Zion paused, and looked at Lightning.

"It's all right. It's just precautionary, until they can confirm our identities."

"We'll also need to see what's in that pouch." One of the soldiers with the Colonel commented, noticing the small bag on Zion's belt. He then walked over and grabbed the pouch off the belt, holding it in his right hand.

"You probably don't want to mess with what's inside there, you might get hurt." Zion cautioned the soldier.

"Shut up." The man spat toward Zion, as he placed his hand inside the pouch, then immediately withdrew it, dropping the bag and its contents all over the floor as he yelped and screamed in pain. "Son of a BITCH! That damn thing shocked me!"

Zion just sighed and smirked at the man. "Told you to be careful." Instead of responding verbally, the man spun around to attack Zion with his good left hand. Zion was a little faster, though, and blocked the punch, before retaliating with one of his own, catching the soldier square on the jaw and knocking him out cold.

Before anyone else could do anything, Zion had reached behind him with his left hand and pulled out a pistol, which he immediately aimed at the Colonel. This got the attention of all the soldiers, who raised their weapons once again. In turn, the other l'Cie all brandished their own weapons, ready for a fight, as Lightning and Sazh were forced to seek cover from what was quickly becoming an ugly scene.

"Holy shit! Where did Zion get a gun?" Sazh looked at Lightning with fear and confusion written all over his face, as the two were quickly joined by Serah and Dajh, behind their airship's ramp. Lightning just shrugged, as Serah shook her head.

"Eden." It was just one word, spoken by a six year old boy, but it spoke volumes. Somehow, in the chaos of running around Eden, Zion had found a gun, which he now used to threaten the man in charge of the ship they were on. "He got it from a chest on the freeway."

"How did you... you know what, never mind." Sazh just shook his head and looked at the scene unfolding in front of him.

Zion still held the gun up to the Colonel's head, an emotionless look on his face. It was obvious he had no problem killing the soldier right here, but he was smart enough to know that it would be suicide to do so. Weighing his options, he finally gave his ultimatum. "I have no problem giving you my weapons, and neither do they. But the rod will stay with me. I'm afraid that is not negotiable."

Col. Barnes looked at the rod on the floor, then back at Zion. He knew that if nobody could touch it, then it wasn't useful to him. He didn't see a need to deprive the man of his possession. "You can keep it, but we may be bringing charges against you for assaulting the Sargent, and for putting a gun to my head."

"I was attacked by him. I was only defending myself. But if you see fit to bring about the charges, then I suppose that is your right. In that case, I put my fate in your hands, for now." With that, he spun the gun around, so that the barrel was pointing toward himself, the handle toward the Col. When Barnes took the gun, Zion then undid the strap for the sheath of his sword and handed it over as well before picking up the rod and replacing it inside the pouch. Seeing this, the other l'Cie also handed over their weapons, or sat them on the ground. As they were doing this, Sazh, Lightning, Serah, and Dajh rejoined their friends.

Serah walked up to Zion, who was looking away from her, and punched him in the face. Zion fell to one knee, holding his nose, but before he could say anything, she started in on him. "What the FUCK was that? You trying to get us all killed?"

Zion glared at her for a second, briefly considering responding to her attack, but he realized quickly that she was right. When he did so, all the anger washed away from him, and he simply sighed and nodded to her. "Yeah, it was rash and impulsive, but then again, last time I was faced with this many soldiers, they had just committed genocide, so forgive me if I don't see as if I have anything to lose!"

Lightning then grabbed Serah and pulled her away. "Hey, calm down, I'm pretty sure Zion knows what he's doing, even if it does seem reckless."

Serah then turned her anger toward her sister. "How can you POSSIBLY defend him? What is wrong with all of you?" She stormed away, but was stopped by a pair of guards.

"Sorry, ma'am, but you're not going anywhere without an escort, and for now, you and the others are going to be confined to suitable quarters, so if you would go with them." Col. Barnes gestured to the two in front of Serah, and the dozen or so surrounding the other l'Cie. In turn, they all formed a corridor to lead the gang to the quarters where they would be. As they went past Barnes, Lightning spoke to him briefly.

"My commanding officer in Bodhum is Col. Amodar. If it is at all possible, I would like to speak to him."

"I'll see what I can do." Barnes then nodded and Lightning rejoined the others to be escorted out of the hangar.

"Ugh, this is going to be a long night, isn't it?" Sazh couldn't help but let his sarcastic pessimism show through.

"Well, it could be worse, at least you don't have a pissed off fiance." Snow joked, which drew an angry glare from the woman he'd referenced. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, he turned to one of the escorting soldiers to speak to him. "So, what exactly are the arrangements going to be anyway?"

"We have five vacant rooms in the crew's quarters. You will be able to decide amongst yourselves the arrangements, but you will not be allowed to leave your rooms once you are in them, other than to use the restrooms, and even then, it won't be without armed escort."

Sazh smiled slightly at this. "Well, looks like we'll probably end up with the same arrangements as last night, huh?" At this, Snow rolled his eyes and groaned.

"You're right, this is going to be a VERY long night."

The group was led down the hallway they had entered, up two flights of stairs, and down another hallway, this one lined with doors on both sides. Once they reached the end of this hallway, the three soldiers in front stopped and turned to face the rest of the group. The one in the center, probably the superior ranked soldier of the group, spoke to the l'Cie. "These five rooms will be yours for the night. Inside each room is a sink, mirror, and two single-person beds. The door behind me is a public use restroom. It has a tub, shower, sink, mirror, and toilet. If this is not acceptable, I apologize, but the only other room we have is in the barracks. No matter where you go, however, you will have an armed escort at all times. You can decide among yourselves how to split the room assignments."

Before anyone could say anything, Fang had run into the door closest to her and locked it shut behind her. This move surprised some of the soldiers as well as a few of the l'Cie, but nobody said anything. Sazh and Dajh took the room that was next to the one Fang had entered, with Hope and Vanille taking the one across from those two. Serah silently stormed into the one next to Hope's room, with Snow reluctantly following. Zion and Lightning looked at each other and shrugged before entering the last room. Once the l'Cie were inside their doors, two guards took up positions near each door, and the three that had led the group left the ten to their duties.

Alone in her temporary room, Fang simply looked around, sighed, then went for one of the beds. Laying down on it, she quickly drifted off to a restless sleep.

"You know, despite her weak appearance, your sister hits pretty damn hard." Zion had walked over to the bed on the right side of the door and sat down, with Lightning sitting on the one across from him. It was at that point that she had her first real opportunity to see the damage her sister had done to the older l'Cie. His eye was already starting to bruise up and swell shut, he looked more like he'd been in a fight with Snow than Serah.

Lightning stood up and reached out to him, in an attempt to heal the injury, but gasped when Zion's hand caught her wrist. She looked at him and he shook his head, replying. "It will raise more questions than we have time to answer. Once we're out of here, you can heal it."

Lightning nodded her confirmation to his request and sat back down on the bed, soon after she did so, she realized what Zion had just said. "You don't think they'll bring charges on you for your incident?"

Zion smirked a little at the question, he'd expected that whoever he ended up rooming with would be asking about what had happened in the hangar. "What happened downstairs with the Colonel was a calculated risk. I had hoped that we'd be able to board peacefully, but that Sargent made that impossible."

Lightning couldn't suppress a scoff at his statement. "I thought you acted mostly on instinct, Zion, but you had this all planned?"

"You're right on both accounts. I do act on instinct, but that doesn't mean that I don't have a plan as well." Zion sighed and looked around the room, trying to take his focus off of the soldier that was staring holes in him. "I suppose that I owe your sister and the others an apology. I'll give it to them in the morning when we're out of here. As for your original question, even if they do bring charges, it will only be for pulling the gun on the Colonel, and by the time they can do that we will be well on our way to completing our Focus, so it won't matter."

Zion laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. Light looked at him and let out a soft chuckle. "All right, good night, Zion." She laid down herself and they both eventually drifted off to sleep.

"That damn Zion! I'm gonna kill him!" Serah was still upset about what the Pulsian had done earlier, and Snow was the one stuck hearing about it. For once, the roles had been reversed, and the usually impulsive Snow was trying to calm down the storm that was the normally still waters within Serah.

"Serah, please, settle down. I'm sure Zion has his reasons. Besides, if he was trying to start a real fight, he would have opened fire immediately, instead of talking to the Colonel first, wouldn't he?" Snow's logic, even if it may have been flawed, seemed to get to Serah, as she calmed down and sat on the bed across from Snow.

"Maybe, but do you really think he was planning that out?"

"I don't know, but it looked to me like he was in control of his emotions. I think he was analyzing the situation from the moment he saw Sazh and Sis unarmed. I don't think that he had planned on that soldier taking the rod, but it may have helped him with his act, if it was one."

"You don't think he was seriously thinking about taking on the entire airship?"

"If he was, he would have used his l'Cie powers, not a gun." This point was true, Zion had kept his abilities in check, despite his apparent anger. Although he had threatened the Colonel, he had never really attacked anyone. It was almost as if he really was trying to see how the soldiers would react to his actions, as if he was trying to see if what Lightning had said about the military being different now was true.

"Damn it." Serah cursed herself now as she laid down on the bed. "I'll apologize to him in the morning. For now, good night, Snow."

"Sleep well, Serah."

"I don't get it Vanille. What's going on?" Hope was lying on a bed as Vanille was on the other. Both of them were exhausted from the day's events, but Hope's mind couldn't get off of what had happened the last few days, especially the last hour or so.

"The world has changed from what we knew. Fang and I have had a chance to see this change, but Zion hasn't. It is possible that he's having trouble adjusting." Even Vanille's usual confident and perky self seemed to be somewhat dimmed.

Hope thought about her words for a minute, but realized something else was going on. "No, that's not it, not completely anyway. I think Zion may know more than he's letting on."

"It is possible, though I don't know why he would keep something from us. Perhaps we should ask Fang tomorrow?"

"As close as you two are, I don't know if she'd know any more than the rest of us."

"No, but she knows Zion better than any of us. She would know if he is hiding something."

Hope sighed in defeat. His girlfriend was right, Fang would know Zion better than any of them. She may not know what, but she would know if he was hiding something. "All right, tomorrow we'll talk to Fang. Good night, Vanille."

"Night, Hope."

Sazh and Dajh had laid down almost immediately after they entered their room. Sazh had almost fallen asleep, when Dajh spoke up.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Dajh?"

"Something's not right." This statement got the old man's attention. He sat up and looked at his son carefully.

"What do you mean?"

"Zion. He's different."

"Zion's a l'Cie from Pulse, we both know you can sense that."

"Yes, but there's something else too. His aura is similar to that of Fang and Vanille, and the rest of you, but it's different too."

Sazh didn't know what his son was talking about, but the conversation had him both curious and concerned. "How's he different?"

"The power in his aura, it's stronger than the others. It's almost like when we were in Bodhum before the Purge."

Sazh was quiet as he pondered this statement. When they were in Bodhum for the fireworks display, Dajh had been drawn to the Pulse Vestige, inside which Anima had laid dormant. It was this power that Dajh had sensed that had led to the Purge. The information Dajh had given was unsettling at best for Sazh. "Perhaps we need to have a discussion with Zion about this in the morning. In the meantime, try to get some sleep, all right?"

"All right. Good night, Dad."

"Night, Dajh."

_A/N: All right, another long chapter down. I don't know HOW long the next one will be, but I know that the last couple have been longer than the average. This may continue, though I'm not sure._

_At any rate, next time, apologies, meetings, and Euride!_

_Please review and comment! I will respond to most, if not all, of them!_


	16. The Power Source of Cocoon

_A/N: I've noticed that now that I'm into the story a bit the chapters have started getting longer. I'm afraid that I'm not going to apologize for this, it was necessary to get the story right. Besides, these chapters aren't nearly as long as some people's works._

_I apologize for the lateness of this update. I lost my internet connection on Friday and just now was able to get it back. On the plus side, I have the next chapter over half done, so I will catch up either this week or next._

_Today, we get the ending of the trip to Euride, and a conversation with Col. Amodar._

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Square-Enix. If I did, I'd this would probably be a game, not a fanfic!_

**Chapter 16- The Power Source of Cocoon**

Lightning woke up startled. She knew she wasn't in her bed, or anything that resembled a comfortable bed, for that matter. As she looked around, the events of the previous night came back to her. As she turned herself over, she spotted Zion sitting in the corner of his own bed, watching her. "Morning, sleep well?"

Lightning sighed in before giving a response. "I feel like I used to when I was still enlisted, so not really, no." She paused for a minute, considering what he'd said. "How do you know it's morning?"

"I used the bathroom about an hour ago, and the soldier mentioned it was about 5 in the morning local time."

"Any idea where we are?"

"Other than still on this airship? No, sorry, they wouldn't say, and I get the impression that even they don't know." Before any more could be said, there was a knock on the door before it opened and two soldiers walked in. The first one was a Lieutenant, judging by the insignia on her uniform, the other was the Sargent who'd attacked Zion the previous night. The Sargent looked as if he had mostly recovered from last night's events, though it was obvious that Zion's punch had split the man's lip, as it was scabbed over pretty well.

The Lieutenant was the first to speak. "We were able to contact Col. Amodar this morning. He said there is a Lt. Farron who is under his command, but that currently she is listed as being on leave, so he can't speculate where she currently is, or if you are her."

Lightning stood up and looked at the two. "I would like to speak to him."

"Of course, once we are at our destination. There is a storm outside right now that is interfering with out communication abilities, but once we land, there should be no problem getting him on the line. Until then, you will have to remain here, though it has been arranged for you and the others to be escorted to the common area, should you wish."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Lightning paused as the two didn't immediately excuse themselves. "Is there something else?"

The Sargent spoke up now. "Yes, ma'am. I would like to apologize, to you, sir, for my actions last night. I overreacted to what happened, and I should have probably listened to your warning."

Zion nodded to the Sargent. "It's no problem. Just be more careful next time." The Sargent nodded and the two left the room, leaving Zion and Lightning to ponder what was happening. "If what they said is true, your CO will be aware of your location, and he'll try to get us out, right?"

"If he can, yes. I just don't know what the Colonel told him about us."

"If they were telling the truth, and it appeared they were, then we will find out soon enough. In the meantime, perhaps we should go to that common room. I'm getting tired of staring at these walls, myself."

Lightning nodded, got to her feet, and knocked on the door, before opening it and speaking to the soldiers outside. After that, the two l'Cie were led from their rooms down the hall they'd come up the night before, to an elevator next to the stairs they'd used. Upon entering the elevator, they realized that they were on the third deck of what appeared to be at least a ten deck ship. One of the escorts pressed a button for the sixth floor, and the elevator took them relatively quickly to their destination. On the way, Lightning took a glance over at Zion. When she did, she noticed that the bruise around his eye wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be, and that the swelling had mostly disappeared already. Once there, they were escorted off the elevator and down another hall into what appeared to be a lounge area.

Fang, Hope, and Vanille were already there, as was Dajh. The youngest l'Cie immediately got up and ran over to Zion and Lightning upon noticing them, giving Zion a hug and nodding to the other. This action surprised everyone, including Zion, who took a second to return the boy's embrace. "Wow, what's gotten into you this morning?"

"We're going to see Kujata today, and it's because of you!" Dajh's voice betrayed his excitement, and Zion couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the boy's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it's all he could talk about since he got up this morning." Zion looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Sazh with a mug of coffee or tea in his hand as he walked into the room, escorted by a pair of guards, who stood near the door once he was inside. "I'm a little surprised, since he was only there once, and that's when.."

"I know." Zion cut the older man off before he could say anything else. A smirk from Zion told Sazh all he needed to know. They were to keep the fact that they were l'Cie to themselves for now. Sazh nodded and Zion turned his attention to the rest of the room. Looking around, he sighed as he joined the others. "All right, once Serah and Snow get here, we all need to have a talk."

"About what?" Dajh wasn't sure what was going on, despite the conversation he'd had with his father last night.

"Everything. Last night caused some problems for everyone, and I think we need to clear the air a little bit." Zion wasn't particularly excited about the conversation he was going to be having soon, but he knew that it was definitely needed if the group was going to continue to work together.

It wasn't long before Snow and Serah came into the room, escorted like the others had been. They were immediately noticed by Sazh and Hope, who waved them over. As they approached, Serah noticed Zion and flinched slightly. Snow sat down on an empty spot on one of the couches in the area the group had settled in, but Serah paused and looked directly at Zion. "I'm sorry, for punching you last night. It was an overreaction."

"It's all right, Serah. I believe I owe you, and everyone else here an apology as well, for my part in last night's events. It was reckless of me to do what I did, especially with my track record with soldiers from Cocoon."

"Then why'd you do it?" Snow had to ask the question Zion didn't want to answer.

The Pulsian stopped for a second, and gave Snow a half truth. "I don't know. It was something I did on impulse."

"Yeah, well, it may be a good idea to keep your impulses to yourself next time." Sazh was half joking with his comment, but even Zion knew he still meant what he'd said.

"So, any idea what's going on?" Hope decided that perhaps it was a good idea to change the subject. Zion was a little bit thankful about this, he had some things to think about, but he didn't want to be distracted around the group. Now he could put off thinking about those things until later, hopefully when there were less people around.

"They told us when they came in that they were going to be landing soon, but they didn't say where. They also said that there was a storm outside and it was interfering with their communications." Lightning had supplied the needed answer, but it sparked another question from Snow.

"Well, can't they compensate for the interference?"

"Yes, the equipment should be able to do so automatically. Why it can't, I don't know. Perhaps the ship took damage or something." Lightning didn't seem extremely concerned, but Zion had noticed something that the others hadn't. Dajh had a worried look on his face, as if something wasn't right. Before he could bring it up, a soldier walked up to the group and began to speak to them.

"Excuse me, but we'll be landing momentarily." He turned to Lightning. "You will be able to contact Col. Amodar once we're on the ground, and we have been assigned to bring you to the communications deck of this vessel. You may take one other with you, but no more than that."

Lightning considered this as she stood up. As she looked around the room, she realized that there was one choice that would make for the easiest conversation with her CO. "All right, Sazh, you're with me."

Sazh seemed almost surprised at the request. "Me? Why?"

"Because of everyone here, you are the one who knows the Colonel best besides me."

Zion also spoke up. "He won't be as likely to ask questions if it's you instead of someone like Fang or myself." It was apparent that the Pulsian had been thinking along the same lines as the soldier, as she nodded to him. Sazh saw the wisdom in this answer, and nodded as well, and the two of them left with the three soldiers, leaving the other seven alone in the room.

Sazh and Lightning were led through a different door than they'd entered the room in. At the end of this hall was another elevator, which they got into. Lightning noted that this elevator had only seven buttons, but the fifth floor was as far down as it went. The lead soldier pressed the top button, and the elevator went up. Upon reaching the door, the soldiers flanked the l'Cie, and as soon as they exited, they knew why.

The room they were now in was very high-tech. There were several monitors along the walls and a large screen across from the elevator, presumably for video communications. The main part of the room was open, with a few seats and small computers mounted for someone to communicate and send information at the same time. To the left was a doorway, which had two guards standing next to it. There were a handful of other armed soldiers in the room, as well as techs and other people. Some of them were dressed in military uniforms, though it was obvious not all of them were actually military personnel. From the guarded door, Col. Barnes and the Sargent that Zion had tangled with entered the room and walked over to Lightning and Sazh.

"We just landed, so we will be getting coms up soon." The Colonel spoke and gestured to the large screen in front of them. "You will be able to speak with him from here, but for obvious reasons, I can't give you the luxury of privacy."

"It's understood, sir." Lightning kept formality as high as possible, saluting her superior officer before turning to the screen and waiting.

The two l'Cie didn't have to wait long for Amodar to appear on the screen. He immediately recognized the two, and he returned Lightning's salute before speaking. "Well, Lieutenant, I have to wonder. Why is it that I hear more about your activities when you're on leave than I do when you are actually working for me?"

"I'm sorry, sir, it is unfortunate that your name has come up in relation to my travels, but it has been necessary so that we could complete our mission."

"And what exactly is that mission?" Amodar knew that this was a question he wasn't going to get answered right now, but he had to keep the formality and the illusion that he was still in control, and Lightning knew it.

The female looked around the room at the people who were unrelated to the events that were taking place before turning her attention back to the screen. "I'm afraid I can't give you details until we meet in person, for security reasons. We are planning on heading to Euride Gorge today and stopping in Bodhum after, to meet with you among other things."

Amodar smiled at her comments. "Very well, then, I'll look forward to speaking with you later on today."

"Sir?" Lightning's question and the look on both her face and Sazh's left the Colonel curious for a second, until he remembered his conversation with Col. Barnes earlier.

"Ah, yes, you don't know where you are, do you? Oh well, you'll find out in a few minutes, I'm sure." He looked over at Barnes and spoke to him. "I trust that you will show my top soldier and those with her the same courtesy you'd show those under your own command, Joseph."

"Of course. After all, it is thanks to you that I still have a career." Amodar chuckled at this, and the exchange left the two l'Cie once again out of the loop, but Lightning shrugged it off as Barnes turned his attention to her. "You two and the others will be free to go in about half an hour. Your weapons are in lockers in the docking bay. I'm afraid, however, that you will be going without your ship. To be honest, we've never seen anything like it, an because of that, we haven't figured out how to refuel it or anything yet. How you were able to do so is, quite honestly, beyond us!"

Sazh smiled and spoke for the first time. "It was actually similar in design to something I'd run across once before, so it wasn't that hard." He was smart enough not to elaborate any further on this information, and then turned back to Col. Amodar. "Thank you, sir. I think it may be best if we get going, though."

The Colonel looked at Sazh closely for a few seconds before replying. "Yes, I do have some things that need to be taken care of, so I should get going myself. Sazh, I know Lightning can take care of herself, but I want you to make sure that you two and the other four are able to get here safely."

Sazh smiled at the man's request. "I will, Colonel, but it's actually seven plus us now." This left Amodar as confused as the l'Cie had been a few moments earlier, but he just shrugged it off, knowing that he'd get the answers he wanted later.

"All right then. I'll see you this afternoon for a full debriefing." And with that, the connection cut.

Lightning sighed and turned toward Barnes, who was looking at her as if he had something to ask, but wasn't sure how to ask it. Eventually, he just turned toward the elevator and motioned for her and Sazh to follow. The two complied as quick as they would be expected to, and once in the elevator, Lightning asked the question that she'd been wondering since she'd awakened that morning. "Colonel, they said we had to land to communicate with Bodhum due to the storm outside."

"Yes, Lt. Farron, that's correct, though since you aren't on duty, you don't need to be so formal. Call me Joseph, or Joe."

"Very well sir. I mean, Joe." Lightning blushed slightly at the other soldier's smile. It wasn't hardly noticeable unless you had known Light for some time, like Sazh did. He decided not to press the issue, however, and she continued before he could anyway. "But I'm confused. I thought that all of these larger airships were designed to push through the electrical interference of a storm."

"They are, and this one is no exception, however, we took a direct hit last night from the lightning, and it shorted out some of our systems. You may have noticed that the lighting is different now than it was when you arrived last night." It was true, now that the Colonel had mentioned it. There were less lights on in the hallways and the elevator now than when they'd gone to sleep the night before. It wasn't that noticeable, especially if you were more used to the natural light of outdoors, but it was in fact darker now.

By now the elevator had reached its destination and the three left it, heading for the commons area where the other l'Cie were waiting patiently. Serah and Snow were talking with Hope and Vanille about something, though what could be anyone's guess. Fang appeared to be meditating on one of the chairs in a corner of the room. Zion was helping Dajh with some sort of electronic device, and from the smile Dajh had on his face and the laughter coming from Zion, it was fairly obvious the two were bonding well.

It was Zion who saw the three enter first, followed almost immediately by Dajh, who ran up to his dad and gave him a hug. The noise of Dajh's cry had gotten the attention of the others, and now everyone was walking toward the three. It was Col. Barnes who spoke first.

"You are all free to go, and I will personally escort you off the ship." With that, he turned and opened the elevator to go down to the docking bay.

"Off the ship? What about our own ship?" Snow was definitely not happy about this statement. He appeared as if he was about to jump the Colonel when Sazh stepped in.

"It isn't ready to go, and from what I've heard, we can probably walk to Euride from here." By now the elevator had reached the dock and opened to reveal the still-powerless ship, with several techs looking it over. It appeared that they were discussing its systems, and Sazh couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief at their apparent ignorance. The l'Cie rearmed themselves and headed for the opened ramp leading from the dock, the ramp being the same door that they'd entered with their airship the night before.

"Indeed you can, we are parked about a mile from a little used access gate of the Plant. I should warn you, though, we received word that security has been tightened greatly lately, and all access to the fal'Cie's chambers has been cut off, even to military personnel."

Fang stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at the Colonel curiously at his comments. "What makes you think we want to see the fal'Cie?"

"You aren't military, but you all carry yourselves as warriors. You travel with a military officer who has a mission that even her CO doesn't know about. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence to see that you are up to something you would probably be arrested for if it was known what you are doing. Having said that, the only thing I can imagine you'd want from Euride is an audience with Kujata, though I doubt it'd be to kill him." He shook his head as Fang opened her mouth to reply. "I trust Col. Amodar, and if he says to trust in you, then that's what I'll do. And in doing so, I will pray that you are successful in your mission."

"Thank you for your support. I hope you are able to keep the skies safe for everyone, Col. Barnes." Zion held out his hand, which the Colonel shook with a smile. "We all have a part to play, and we must all do our best to play it."

Col. Barnes chuckled lightly at Zion's words. "If you hadn't pulled a gun on me last night, I'd say you were a cleric, not a fighter."

Zion simply gave the soldier a smirk of his own. "I'm a little bit of both, I suppose. Good luck in your journey." With that, he turned and joined the others at the base of the ramp leading out onto the surface of Cocoon.

It took them about half an hour to cross the mile long trail leading to the gates of the Power Plant grounds. The entire grounds area was fenced off, and the trail that the l'Cie had used was an access trail that was impossible to get to without landing an airship in the clearing the group had just left. In the past, the trail and landing area had been used for maintenance crews and politicians looking for quick access. The main gates were actually in another part of the grounds, but from where they were, the l'Cie could hear the arguing and shouting of the two warring citizen groups.

But it was another sound, much closer, that got their attention. Zion and Light, being in front of the group, armed themselves immediately, with Lightning doing the talking. "Whoever you are, show yourself now."

"All right, Lightning, don't go shooting the innocent!" A very familiar voice to the Cocoon residents caused Light to drop her weapon, as a young man walked out with his hands in the air, despite having a gun on his hip.

"Dammit Maqui, are you trying to get yourself killed again?" Snow shook his head and walked over to the boy. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"After the breach last night, NORA got called in to help beef security up. Unfortunately, Yuj and Gadot are out on another errand and Lebreau was busy with her bar, so I'm the only one here." He looked at the assembled group, and realized that other than the long haired male, he had seen everyone before. "What's going on? Why are you using the maintenance access?"

"We'll explain everything in a bit. In the meantime, we need to get inside."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem, I mean, a soldier and a member of NORA should have almost unlimited access to the plant, as well as anyone they give authorization to."

Zion spoke up now. "Yes, but we were told that Kujata's chambers are off limits to everyone." Zion had sheathed his blade, Yuj noticed, but he was still an imposing figure, almost as much as Snow.

"Kujata? What would you need to see him for?" Maqui backed away from the Pulsian, almost afraid to find out the answer.

"Our old mission isn't over yet." Snow's calm voice got the boy's attention again, and after looking at his boss confused for a second, he looked at the arm, and saw the l'Cie mark. Letting out a gasp, he nodded his understanding.

"Save Cocoon, save the world, right?"

Snow nodded and gestured to the plant. "Something has been telling us that we need to come here ever since our brands returned. Whether it's fate guiding us, or just a whim meant to waste our time, we're here, and we have no reason to doubt that it's because of Kujata."

Maqui nodded his understanding once again and turned to the plant, motioning the others to follow. "Well, then, you're in luck. My dad worked at the plant for a while when I was little, and because of that, I know a LOT of places that the guards aren't patrolling, for various reasons. Follow me, and I can get you into the fal'Cie's chamber." He stopped as he finished, then added. "I can't guarantee that I can help you get back out, though."

"Don't worry about it. Once we're done, we can probably find our own way out. I mean, we've all been here before." Zion's comments didn't make Maqui feel any better about his presence with the group, but he realized that if Snow was with him, he couldn't be too bad.

The group followed Maqui as he led them through the bowels of the plant, underneath the areas typically traveled by people. Because of this, the soldier's presence here was almost none, and the few that they did come across were easily avoided. As they made their way toward their goal, Lightning decided to find out more about the situation. "So, Maqui, what happened to get security tightened anyway?"

"Apparently some robot managed to get into the plant. It was small and evaded capture by hiding in the vents and debris that fills parts of the plant. It eventually got captured, but nobody's been able to determine it's purpose yet. I don't know any more than that, though they said that they wanted to beef security up in case the robot was a tool for scouting or something."

Vanille, who was behind Lightning and Zion, let her curiosity get the better of her. "So, what happened when they got it?"

"It kept saying that it was looking for its master, and something about Pulse, but the rest of whatever it was saying seemed to be jumbled. They sent it to Bodhum for further evaluation."

Sazh chuckled a little at this. "And they asked for you to come here instead of there to help them?"

Maqui just shrugged. "They have the robot under control, I guess. They just want to cover all their bases, especially with the strange weather and the recent increase in hostilities outside. Apparently there are a few people who think that something bad is coming down. Until now, I didn't put any stock in it, but if you guys have your brands back..." He trailed off, but everyone got the message.

"We'll tell you everything later, all right, pal?" Snow tapped Maqui on the shoulder, earning a look from the young man.

"Sure, whatever, boss." he stopped and looked ahead. "There is an underground access to Kujata's atrium near here. We'll use it to get in to see him." The boy looked around at the ceiling, then, spotting what he was searching for, climbed up a makeshift ladder and slid the panel open. This caused a ladder to drop down, granting the others access to the hole at the top of the small hallway. One by one, they entered the room above.

_A/N: Next time, we get the first of TWO (yes, I said two) chapters with Kujata. The first will explain some things about the l'Cie's Focus, and the second will be about the reasons that the fal'Cie left fourteen months ago. As you can imagine, those two chapters are going to be very dialogue-heavy, and they may be short, as well, though I can't guarantee anything. Don't worry, though, I am going to get back to the action once the gang leaves Euride._

_As always, reviews and comments are appreciated!_


	17. The Purpose of the Rod

_A/N: OK, another chapter ready to go. This time, we get the first half of the conversation with Kujata. I probably should have put the entire conversation as one chapter, but I wanted the second half to be separated, despite it making both chapters a little short._

_Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I do NOT own anything here, other than the scenario and O/C's._

**Chapter 17- The Purpose of the Rod**

The trap door that the l'Cie entered Kujata's atrium through was set back in the corner of the room. Even so, they could see the red-orange light from the fal'Cie's fires before they entered. The room that Kujata was in was separated from them by a wall of glass, and as they looked at the gigantic fal'Cie, they couldn't help but be impressed. The room Kujata was in, despite it being daylight outside, was bathed in darkness, as was the atrium that the l'Cie were now standing in, so that the only light was coming from the fires that powered the plant.

Sazh and Dajh were the last two to enter the room, and once they did, Sazh was reminded of what had happened last time they were there. Cringing at that thought, he hugged Dajh a little tighter against him, a move which didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"This brings back bad memories, doesn't it?" Though it was a question, Snow had said it as if it were fact. Everyone knew that he hated this place, and hated Kujata for what had happened to his son. Everyone knew that it was hard for Sazh to not to try to get at the fal'Cie, much as Fang had when she and Vanille had last been in this same room.

"Honestly, I can't get away from this place soon enough." As Sazh spoke, Dajh managed to get out of his father's grasp and started walking toward the glass barrier. "Dajh! Stop!" Unfortunately, the father's pleas fell on deaf ears, as Dajh continued forward, almost as if he was in a trance. As he did so, the fires under Kujata began to glow brighter, and a red aura began to swirl around the boy, bathing him in a almost ghostly light. "Dajh? Dammit!" Sazh drew his gun, only to have his arm grabbed by Zion before he could bring it up to fire at the fal'Cie.

"Your son is safe. Trust me, please." Sazh looked into Zion's eyes, and saw the sincerity in them. He stared back at his son, then sighed, holstering the weapon.

"Thank you, Zion." The voice was not one that anyone recognized. The sound was loud, elderly, and feminine. Everyone looked around for the sound of the voice, and eventually their eyes settled on Dajh, who was now bathed in a red glow taking the form of a woman. This woman appeared to be roughly the age of Dysley, though her voice held none of the anger or arrogance that the former Primarch's voice had. "It is good to finally see you in person."

Zion paused for a second in surprise, then bowed to the apparition, knowing full well what was happening. "Hello, Kujata. Forgive the surprise, but we were under the impression you were male."

The apparition laughed lightly at Zion's words, as a grandmother would laugh at her grandchild's innocence. "It is all right. Truth be told, we fal'Cie don't have a natural gender. This form is merely the one I choose to use. Unfortunately, unlike Barthandelus, I cannot completely take a human form, and in order to even communicate with humans, I must make use of a l'Cie that is bound to me. Because of this, I am very grateful to you, Sazh, for bringing Dajh back here."

The others noticed that although the mouth of the ghostly woman was moving, the sound seemed to be coming from Dajh himself. In fact, they could see that his mouth was also moving, as if he was speaking the words, instead of the apparition.

"So, what, you're going to just take him from me again?" Sazh still wasn't happy about what was happening, and he was going to make sure the fal'Cie knew it. He'd been holding his anger toward Kujata in for a long time, and now he had a chance to vent, and he wanted to take advantage of it. He drew his gun again, pointing it at the glass. "I'm not going to let you do that this time!"

"I won't, Sazh, you have my word on that." The fal'Cie's comment made Sazh falter, and Zion, who had stepped away when Kujata began to talk, took the opportunity to disarm him. Sazh then glared at the Pulsian, but before he could say or do anything Kujata spoke up once again. "In fact, if you'd let me, I would like to apologize to you for getting you and your son involved in this mess." The ghost sighed, and Sazh noticed that she appeared to genuinely be saddened by the situation. "I don't usually take a l'Cie, but when Fang and Vanille threatened me, I took the only human I could find to help protect me. It truly is unfortunate that it was your son, Sazh, and I know that nothing will take it back. But I truly am sorry for what I did to him, and to you."

With the words of the fal'Cie, all the anger and hatred within Sazh seemed to dissipate. He found that his entire body had become numb in response, and he fell to his knees before her. "I..." The eldest l'Cie couldn't find the words to say what he wanted, and he looked from the ghost over to Zion, who was standing next to him. It was at that point that he realized that Zion had been right, she hadn't taken Dajh for maliciousness, only fear. Smiling faintly at the Pulsian, he turned back to Kujata. "I understand now. I don't know if I can forgive you, at least not yet, but I think I can at least work toward it."

The ghost seemed to smile at this response and nodded toward Sazh. "That is good, then." Her gaze then peered across the group, and noted the two Pulsians who'd attacked her before. "And you two." Fang and Vanille both gasped, and took a step back, unsure of what was going to happen now. The glare of the ghost was unsettling, and the two weren't sure if she was going to attack or not. "I understand now why you did what you did. You have nothing to fear from me."

The two looked at each other, and sighed in relief. Fang, however, didn't understand completely. "How do you know? You've been rooted here ever since, other than when you left Cocoon briefly."

"The same way that I know of Zion's existence, despite never having met him, or the half dozen news reporters outside the plant. I may not be able to move physically, but all fal'Cie are capable of entering another dimension, at least partially, where we can meet and communicate with each other. Because of this ability, we are able to share information from across the world without ever leaving our assigned duties." The fal'Cie was silent for a few seconds, as if pondering something. "The reporters outside, can you bring one of them in here, along with a camera crew?"

Her gaze had fallen on Maqui, and the boy was almost trembling at the sight. He nodded his head in confirmation, and moved to leave, but Snow spoke up before he got to far. "If you're trying to get rid of him so that we can talk in private, don't bother. He'll find out everything from us when we get to Bodhum anyway."

The ghost chuckled at Snow's assumptions. "I am not doing it because of what we need to discuss, though, it would be easier to do in private. The fact is, I am well aware of people's misconceptions toward us fal'Cie, and I wish to do what I can to put those misconceptions to rest. However, I cannot remain in this body like this forever, and it will be faster for the boy to go get a messenger while we discuss your futures."

Snow nodded his confirmation at this information. "Go ahead, Maqui." The boy saluted Snow, then ran off down the hallway. The blonde l'Cie then turned back to Kujata. "So what do you know about our Focus?"

The fal'Cie sighed at this question. She had spoken to Blaine the day before and was well aware that the l'Cie were heading her way. She knew this question was coming, but she didn't know how much she should tell them. "I know that what you're trying to do is seal away a dark creature which once roamed this world long before Cocoon was even a fal'Cie dream. I know that the creature you are fighting against has direct ties to the Maker, though, I don't believe that had Barthandelus been successful in his attempts the Maker would have returned anyway. That is because I know what Blaine wishes to do with the nine of you."

"And what exactly is that?" Lightning didn't want to be a pawn of the fal'Cie again like they had been under Barthandelus. The others shared her sentiment in that regard, though their wariness with regards to what they were being told varied from person to person. Zion had put his faith in Blaine long ago, and was probably more aware of the goal of the Pulse fal'Cie than anyone else. But while Kujata had been explaining things to the others, a mural on the wall near the glass had caught Zion's eye. Instinctively, as he looked at the mural, he pulled the small metal rod from its pouch and was twirling it in his hand.

"To seal the creature away again, you need three keys." The ghost looked over at Zion as she spoke. "And I can see that you already have one of the three, Zion." The mention of his name caught his attention and he spun around to stare at the apparition. "I must admit I am impressed that someone has finally been found that can use that rod. Where did you get it?"

Zion looked at the piece of metal in his left hand as she spoke, almost in disbelief. What did she know about it? He knew that in order to get accurate answers, he would need to be honest with the fal'Cie. "I found it on Eden. Barthandelus had acquired it while he was creating Cocoon, but he hadn't figured out what it was yet. I took it from him, but I have no idea what it is or what it does." He looked at the rod, then at the fal'Cie. "You said it was a key? A key to what?"

"The door to the dimension the creature is in has long been sealed. That seal has broken, but the door itself remains locked, preventing the creature from returning. That rod is one of three items needed to reseal the door. Bear in mind, however, that even though the creature cannot physically enter this dimension yet, its power and influence can. You've already seen the results of that influence."

"The giant behemoth, and the weird Cie'th." Hope was making an educated guess, but he figured that it had to be what the fal'Cie was referring to.

"Yes. The creature cannot yet influence humans, but as its power grows, it eventually will. The minions that have fallen under its influence will be hunting you, and not just here on Cocoon." The fal'Cie paused for a minute before continuing. "The fal'Cie who are left have no desire to see the world destroyed by this creature. We will not oppose your efforts, though I cannot guarantee that all of them will aid you, especially ones like Bismark, who seem to not care for humanity."

Serah had listened to the conversation intently, and now she decided she had a question to ask. "You said there are three keys, and that the rod is one, but where are the other two?"

Kujata looked at Serah as if she hadn't realized the girl was even there. Shaking her head, she replied, "Nobody knows, not even the fal'Cie. I can only tell you that what you need probably is not here on Cocoon. After all, the last time any of the three keys was known to be seen was well before Cocoon was created, at least until now."

"How long do we have?" Lightning wanted to avoid becoming a Cie'th, as did the others who shared that danger, but she also wanted to know more about what they were facing.

"I don't know, and I doubt even Blaine does. As the creatures influence grows, so does its army. Right now, all its forces can do is try to stop you, but eventually, they will be strong enough to seek the keys out themselves. It is believed that only with all three can the door be thrown completely opened, or resealed."

Before anyone else could say anything, five soldiers ran into the room with their weapons drawn. When they caught sight of Dajh, and the apparition surrounding him, they paused in their actions. This gave Kujata's ghost the chance to disable all five with one shot. Zion, Hope, Lightning, and Vanille quickly ran over to check them. "They're still alive, just unconscious," Zion remarked as he took their weapons and placed them in a pile. As he did so, the other three cast cure spells on them to wake them up. Once they were done, they tried to fight once again, but were stopped once again by Kujata, though this time with words.

"No more violence in here!" The fal'Cie's voice had gone from almost grandmotherly to quite angry in a very short time. Her words, however, got the soldiers' attention, so she continued speaking. "Humanity faces a tough enough road ahead without trying to kill each other because you don't understand what is happening."

Lightning, who was still standing next to the soldiers, spoke up now. "Nobody here means you or anyone else any harm." The soldiers noticed for the first time that she was a soldier herself, and saluted her, suddenly remembering their training. She saluted them back, then added. "We are here to acquire some information to help us with a mission we've been chosen to complete."

One of the soldiers, it was hard to tell his rank, since he was in just a standard armor, spoke up now. "If what you say is true, then how can we help?"

"The fal'Cie requested a camera crew be brought up here, and a boy was sent out to get one. Go find him and help him get back here." The soldiers all saluted their superior officer then turned and made to leave, before Lightning added. "And make it quick, we don't have much time." With that they ran quickly from the room, leaving the fal'Cie and l'Cie alone once again.

"Huh, bloody idiots forgot their weapons." Fang noted as she examined one of the guns Zion had taken.

"Yeah, well, they'll be back." Zion sighed and shook his head, before turning his attention back to Kujata. "What can you tell us about this rod, then?" He held the rod out for the ghost to look at it, and to nobody's surprise, Kujata, or rather, the possessed Dajh, made no effort to actually touch it.

"I'm afraid that Blaine would know more about the legends surrounding the Maker than I do. Most of what I would know is second hand at best."

"Yeah, well, right now, you're the only source of information around here." Sazh was still wrestling with his emotions, it appeared. Though his voice was much more pleasant than it had been when they first arrived, it wasn't the sorrow filled voice he'd had a few minutes earlier.

Kujata nodded her confirmation to Sazh's statement, then continued speaking. "The rod is an artifact that dates back to the Maker's time on Pulse." She paused, as if gathering her thoughts, then continued. "It is said that the Maker created it to be used by himself and his subordinates, but not by fal'Cie or humans."

"His subordinates?" Serah wasn't sure what Kujata was talking about now.

"The credit for creating life on Pulse goes to the Maker, and it should. However, he was not alone in the creation process, he merely was the leader of a group of creatures." The ghost looked at the rod again. "The Maker knew that the fal'Cie and humans they had created weren't perfect. In fact, it was intentional that it was done this way, they wanted to see what happened. But the Maker knew that the creatures were easily corrupted, and that if given access to his power, they could use it for dark purposes just as easily as for good. Because of this, he designed the rod, and all of the technology his group created, to be useless to the lesser creatures."

Zion was confused now, himself. He had listened to every world Kujata had said, and now he had no idea what was going on. "So, if humanity was supposedly unable to wield his power, then why can I?"

Kujata was silent for a second before replying. "According to legend, the Maker realized that, though the fal'Cie do not reproduce, humans do, and that eventually, there would be a possibility of a human being born with the right genetic code to be able to use his technology. It is said that his last years on this world were spent in preparation for that time. Unfortunately, it is also said that he wasn't able to complete those preparations before he left."

"Wait, why is that unfortunate? If he thought that humanity could be corrupted and use his power for death and destruction, wouldn't he have tried to prevent it?" Amazingly, Snow had raised a brilliant question.

"The rod, its use is limited, the power within it is deadly, and without the help of those who know about it, its user wouldn't get much of an advantage having it. The Maker feared more the access to the technology he'd created and left behind, and thus he had been altering its interface and limiting its access."

"What about it being a key?" Vanille had to ask the question, and everyone else wondered about it as well.

"Without the other two, that key is useless. The Maker made sure of that." The apparition paused for a second, and appeared to flicker slightly. "I'm afraid I won't be able to keep this up much longer, any more answers will have to come from Blaine." It was at this point that the soldiers returned, along with Maqui and a reporter and camera person. The two civilians gasped at what they saw, but under Lightning's direction, they set everything up within a couple of minutes.

_A/N: Next time, Kujata's broadcast to the world, and maybe a few other things too, depending on what I end up keeping in and what I toss out. Believe it or not, I DO have a general storyline done up a few chapters ahead of what I'm writing (and summaries even further than that) so I have some idea of where I'm going. I just may not put everything in, especially if I determine that it's not needed in the story._

_As always, reviews and comments are loved!_


	18. Kujata's Broadcast

_A/N: The second half of the meeting with Kujata. Here, she reveals, among other things, why the fal'Cie disappeared from Cocoon and why they returned._

_I would like to first off say, if I havent already, that updating this story is going to be slowed down a bit, since I'm working on two stories at once. I will be alternating, doing one chapter of this story one week, and one chapter of the other story the next. As for the delay in THIS specific chapter, that I blame on my lack of time last week to do any writing._

_Disclaimer: I don't own it!_

**Chapter 18- Kujata's Broadcast**

Kujata waited somewhat patiently as the reporter and his cameraman got themselves set up. While this was going on, the l'Cie were discussing what had been revealed already. As they were finishing preparations, a thought occurred to Serah. "This broadcast will be a one time thing, right?" Though she was talking to the other l'Cie, she had said it loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"Yes, I will not have the energy and you won't have the time to repeat this." Kujata's answer was simple and effective.

"What are you thinking?" Snow was curious as to what was going through his fiance's mind.

"We should get this broadcast to as many people as we can, but one station isn't going to be enough."

"She's right, you know. We should get all the channels to broadcast this thing." Sazh spoke up now.

Zion turned to the reporter to ask him, but since he'd already heard this conversation, he had his answer ready before the question could be asked. "I'm afraid that is out of my hands. You'd have to talk to the various network bosses, and even then, it would probably take an order from the Council to get us to lend our broadcast to the other channels or them to use it."

Lightning had pulled out her phone already and handed it to Hope. "Call your dad." She then turned to the reporter. "We'll need to speak to your boss."

"Yeah, sure." The man dialed the number on his phone and handed it to Lightning. "You're military, so you can use it all you want."

"Thanks." Lightning then waited patiently for the boss to pick up. "Yes, sir, this is Lieutenant Lightning Farron of the Bodhum Security Regiment. Your reporter over here at Euride Gorge is going to be broadcasting a statement in a few minutes that we would like to have carried on the other networks... Yes, we are trying to get that order now... I understand... Yes... Please stand by for that then." She took the phone away from her ear and waited for Hope to get his father.

Meanwhile Sazh asked the reporter. "Can you send a direct feed?"

"Possibly, why?"

"I don't think that we'll be able to get the red tape cut in time for this broadcast to work, unless you can directly feed your camera's data into the network's airwaves."

"Oh, you want us to send a feed to the Council so that they can fast track the authorization."

"Yes, that is the idea. I know that it used to be possible under Sanctum rule, but I didn't know if it was still the case."

"It's half right, actually. They have the authority to hijack our signal and broadcast what they want, if they choose. They also have access to the raw feeds, so they can see what's coming from this camera as it's happening, and if they so choose, they can force it to go direct to the public."

"All right then, you may need to help tell them how to do that, but that's what we need to do."

"Just tell the Council to use Channel 5.2, it's the remote feed for our location."

Hope had tried his father at home, then tried to get him at the office, only to find that he wasn't at either place. Sighing, Hope tried a last ditch effort, calling his dad's mobile phone. After a few rings, it picked up. "I'm in the middle of a Council meeting, so this had better be important."

"Dad, it's me, Hope."

"Yes, son, I know it is. I'm pretty busy, so what's going on?"

"Can you turn to Channel 5.2? We need to get your help with something."

Bartholomew paused for a few seconds, considering what this son had just requested. "Excuse me, sir, but it has been brought to my attention that something is going on that may be of importance to us."

The man who was in the middle of speaking sighed impatiently, and turned his attention to his distraction. "What is that, Mr. Estheim?"

"My son, he has requested that we take a look at channel 5.2 on TV."

"5.2? What in the world would we waste time on that for?"

"Sir, it is a direct remote feed for the Channel 5 network. It would be a live, raw feed from a remote camera. Odds are, if it's being requested that we look at it, it's for a reason." One of the other men at the table spoke up now. This made the older man sigh and agree, but not before issuing a warning to Bartholomew.

"If this does end up being a waste of time, I will have your son arrested for interfering with official acts." Bartholomew nodded, and the man turned on the TV. Everyone was shocked at what they saw, and the older man couldn't help but exclaim, "What the...?"

On the TV was Dajh, with the apparition of Kujata perfectly centered in the camera frame. Behind him was the glass partition that separated Kujata herself from the humans in the room. The entire room was lit with an eerie red glow, much as it had been for most of the conversation that had proceeded the broadcast. Bartholomew stared in awe at the sight, but finally found the ability to speak to his son once again. "What is this?"

A new voice spoke now, Lightning's. "Kujata wishes to speak to everyone, but one network won't be enough. The council has the ability to force all networks to carry this broadcast, and it would be appreciated if you could do so quickly."

"I... of course, just a second." He turned to the older man, as apparently he had been chosen to head up this council. "Sir, the request is that this feed be broadcast across all networks. Apparently, we are the only ones with the authority to authorize this action."

"To what end?"

"I'm afraid, sir, that I don't know. My son, he's in that room, and I fear that he may be in danger should we refuse." The older man was not one to trust the fal'Cie, and Bartholomew knew this. He decided to use the man's fear of the fal'Cie to his advantage and get the broadcast started.

"Very well. Do what needs to be done. Personally, now that I'm watching this feed, I'm curious myself as to what's happening." With that, several people pulled out their own phones and began dialing various numbers. Within minutes, all seven networks of Coccon, as well as the three established in Pulse, had been confirmed to broadcast the 5.2 feed.

As this was going on, the people in the room could hear a muffled conversation between two people off camera. They couldn't make out what was being said, other than Bartholomew, who was listening to it on the phone.

"We need five minutes before the switch will be complete and you can fully start your broadcast." Lightning's voice was fairly noticeable.

"Well great, but I have no idea what I'm doing here." Though Bartholomew didn't know the other person, he had to assume it was the reporter.

"Don't worry about it, just tell the audience that Kujata wishes to make a speech to the people of both Cocoon and Pulse, then let her do the rest."

"Her? I thought Kujata was male!"

"Does that look like a male to you?" Lightning pointed at the apparition covering Dajh. The reporter shook his head, which let Lightning continue. "The truth is, the fal'Cie has no true gender, they can be either one. Kujata just prefers the female appearance for now apparently."

"Lt. Farron, the networks are ready to switch over to your feed." Bartholomew spoke over the phone once he'd gotten the OK. Lightning then turned back to the reporter and nodded, sending him out in front of the camera.

"All right, switch the feed now." At Lightning's command, the feeds of all the networks in the world were switched to the feed coming out of Kujata's chamber in Euride Gorge. The reporter, standing in front of the camera, spoke to the audience first.

"This is Harry Williams, broadcasting live from Kujata's Viewing Chamber in Euride Gorge where, somehow, the fal'Cie has managed to find a way to speak to the people of Cocoon and Pulse. Now, I give you Kujata." With that, the man stepped aside, revealing to the worlds the apparition. After a second, she began to speak.

"On behalf of all fal'Cie, especially those here on Cocoon, I would like to apologize for the events that took place on Cocoon fourteen months ago. Much of the truth of the events has been made public knowledge, however, there is more to the story than has already been told."

"The events fourteen months ago had been set in motion long before that. In fact, the plans that led to the near destruction of Cocoon had been created before Cocoon itself had ever been built. Most of the fal'Cie were unaware of this, and thus we were led to believe that Cocoon was being built to preserve the human population, just as the humans themselves had been told."

"It wasn't until the events of the Purge that we realized our mistake. By then, it was too late for us to stop Barthandelus' plans. When the l'Cie attacked Barthandelus in Eden, we realized that Ragnarok was inevitable, and in an effort to preserve what we could of our way of life. We fled to another dimension, one that, unfortunately, humanity cannot follow. We believed that Ragnarok would destroy Cocoon, as had been planned. The intent had been to return to Pulse after the dust had settled and do what we could to repopulate the human race. We were surprised and shocked when we returned to find that Cocoon was still there, just encased in crystal."

"For the last year, we have attempted to continue to do what we had done for over 1300 years before the Purge. We have wanted to help humanity survive, as we had since before the creation of Cocoon. We understand the lack of trust that some of you have toward us, but on behalf of all the other fal'Cie, I would like to say that we will continue to support humanity. That is what we were born to do, that is what we will continue to do."

The apparition flickered again, and when it stabilized, it looked down at Dajh's hand. Dajh then held it up, to reveal his l'Cie mark was glowing. "There is one more thing that needs to be mentioned. There is a group of l'Cie who are out there handling a mission, the details of which I do not know. I would like to make a request in the name of peace to both them and to everyone else who is watching. To the humans, I would like to ask that you do not interfere in their mission, as it will only bring about more problems than it will solve. To the l'Cie, I would like to request that you don't flaunt your status. There are many people who still do not trust the fal'Cie, and they will look on you as a danger and an enemy, no matter what it is you do."

At this point the glow around Dajh intensified, prompting Sazh to become worried. "Dajh!" He started to go to his son, but was stopped by Zion, who simply shook his head and turned back to the fal'Cie's avatar.

"I am out of time, but I would like to thank everyone for taking theirs to listen to me. On behalf of all Cocoon fal'Cie, I would like to say that we will be watching over you and helping you, now and always." The glow became blinding now, as everyone had to shield their eyes. Once it was over, everyone looked and saw Dajh on his hands and knees. The apparition was gone, and the flow of lava from Kujata had slowed down.

After a few seconds, Dajh got back to his feet and looked around. Spotting his dad, he ran toward him. "Dad!" He hugged his father tightly and Sazh quickly returned the gesture. The others looked on in curiosity and wonder, since none of them had seen anything like that before.

It was Zion who realized that the reporter was still broadcasting, as he heard him talking and answering questions, apparently from the studio. He got Lightning's attention and gestured to them. She got the idea right away and went over to the reporter. "All right, sorry guys, but the show's over, at least from in here."

"What? Hey, you can't do this!"

"Actually, I can, this is still a restricted area, and I have the authority to revoke your right to be here at any time. The boy's father would like some privacy right now, so if you would please leave. You can continue your broadcast from outside this room."

"All right, all right. We're going." The reporter began walking away, escorted by the guards who'd brought him here. Once all of them were gone, it left just the nine l'Cie and Maqui in the atrium.

"I suppose you guys are heading off to your next destination now." Maqui couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Actually, we're going to be staying at Bodhum at least until tomorrow." Snow smiled at his friend, whose face immediately brightened up.

"I thought you'd be needing to continue your journey."

"We don't know where we need to go next, unfortunately." Hope commented to the young man. "We were only given a goal, not a path to get there."

Zion confirmed Hope's comments, but also added, "If we need three keys that were lost before Cocoon was created, we probably need to head to Gran Pulse to find them. After all, it was a fluke that the one I now carry was here to begin with."

"Excellent! Let me call Lebreau and she can get the bar ready. We're gonna celebrate tonight!" Maqui was already dialing the phone as the gang left the room through a doorway on the opposite side of where the reporter had gone.

The room wasn't vacant for long, however, as Blaine appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the darkened room. He approached the glass that separated him from Kujata and bowed before the Cocoon fal'Cie. "You requested me?"

"You didn't tell Zion about the rod." The response was only in his head, he knew that. But he still voiced his own comments.

"I didn't know he had it. In the confusion of his last mission, I never had the chance to debrief him before he became crystal."

"You know that this changes things."

"It does, but not as you may believe."

"You need to tell him everything."

"You're starting to sound like Gerren."

"Perhaps she is wiser than you may give her credit for." Zion laughed briefly at Kujata's comment.

"Maybe I should, I just worry about what will happen if he knows his fate."

"You think he'll try to avoid it?"

"No, he's not the type to abandon his mission. But he's walking a fine line, and knowing what he will have to do may cause him to step over that line in the process. You know as well as I do that that won't help anyone except the creature."

"So, what will you do then?"

Blaine sighed and paced around the room a bit before responding to this question. "As you said, he has the rod, and that changes things. I am going to need time to consider exactly how and what to do next. I intend to meet him in Bodhum tonight, if I can, but I'm worried. The creature's influence is growing much faster than we'd anticipated."

"Yes, it is. We are quickly running out of time." Kujata was silent for a moment before continuing. "You and the l'Cie have a long road ahead, Blaine. I wish I could do more to help."

"You have done what you can. For now, you and the other Cocoon fal'Cie only need to keep us informed of what is happening here, since our attention is going to be focused on Pulse. If you need us, contact Titan, he'll know how to find us."

"As you wish, Blaine. I hope this isn't the last time we meet."

"So do I, old friend." And with that, Blaine left the room in darkness.

_A/N: Next time, the road to Bodhum isn't as safe as the l'Cie would like it to be._

_Please leave a review or comment!_


	19. Ambushed

_A/N: OK, now we get back to the action... kinda. Actually, the next two chapters will be pretty much all action, this one is just the set up for that. I'm sorry it's a little short, but I felt it was right to make it this way._

_Disclaimer: Square Enix does not know of this story, and I am not profiting from it, so please don't tell them! _

**Chapter 19 – Ambushed**

The l'Cie were led by Maqui down to the exit used by the military to access the plant. As they made their way out, the young NORA member was surprised to find two soldiers with their guns pointed at him once he opened the door. Before anyone could say anything, Lightning stepped in front of the young man, causing the soldiers to falter slightly. "Stand down." At her request, they lowered their weapons and stepped back, allowing the others to exit the plant.

"Ma'am, our apologies." The soldier on the left commented as the two saluted her. "We were told to lock this area down, and we didn't expect anyone to use this entrance."

Lightning simply returned the salute and nodded at them. "At ease. Who's in charge of this operation?"

"Colonel Amodar is, ma'am." The soldier on the right spoke now.

"I know that Bodhum's Guardian Corps is in charge of providing the security for this station, but who's the on-site OIC?"

"That would be Lt. Cross, ma'am." The left one spoke again.

"Can you two go get him?" Lightning couldn't hide the slight annoyance in her voice as she spoke to them.

"Yes, ma'am!" With that the two saluted once again and walked away somewhat quickly to find their commanding officer.

"Jeremy Cross is the commander here? Wow, talk about failing your way upwards in life." Snow couldn't help but laugh at this situation. His laughter was cut short, however when Light glared at him. "Sorry."

"So who is he?" Hope had to ask that question, much to Lightning's chagrin.

"He was someone who was going through basic training at the same time I was. He was given leadership of a squad toward the end, for a mock mission. It ended very badly, and two soldiers died in the process. Everyone was surprised that he still managed to pass, even if it was just barely."

"Yeah, to see that he now has the same rank as you, that's almost an insult, isn't it, sis?" Lightning glared at Snow once again, and this time he decided to just keep his mouth shut. By now, the two soldiers were coming back toward the group, along with a third, who was dressed almost identically to Lightning. The new man spoke to the two familiar soldiers, and they both left his side as he strode up to the gang.

"Lieutenant Farron." The gang could all tell there was some anger and malice in the way the soldier greeted his comrade.

"Lieutenant Cross." Lightning's anger was more carefully hidden, but it was still there nonetheless. As the two stood there, Cross looked at the rest of the group.

"I take it I have you to thank for the sudden change in orders I just received?"

Lightning simply shrugged at his accusation. "I wouldn't know anything about your orders, Jeremy. I'm actually here to ask a small favor of you."

The other Lieutenant's expression changed significantly at this statement. "Really? The great Lightning Farron has a favor to ask of me?" He started laughing incredulously at this thought.

Lightning glared at him for a second, her reply as icy as anything anyone had ever heard from her. "It truly is a shame about your arm, Jeremy."

The other soldier's laughter stopped as quickly as it started, and he glared at her as if he was ready to kill her. After a few seconds, however, he sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Thanks for reminding me about that. As much as I hate you for it, you may have saved my ass. So, why don't you tell me what it is you want, while I'm still in the mood to grant the request?"

"It's simple really. We need transportation to Bodhum. You make routine trips there for supplies and various other things for this outpost, so if it's not too much trouble, we'd like the opportunity to hitch a ride on one of the transports."

The male soldier seemed to consider this request carefully, before responding. "Well, you're in luck, with the change in orders that I received there's a transport that will be leaving within the hour for Bodhum. However, I'm afraid that there's not enough room for all of you."

"That's ok, sir, I have my velocycle. I can take at least one more person with me." Maqui spoke up, and for the first time, Cross noticed his presence.

"Ah, yes, you're the NORA kid, right?" At Maqui's nod, he continued. "Good, I was told to tell you that your services are no longer required here and that you will receive your payment upon your return to Bodhum Base." The Lieutenant looked over the group again. "If you can take one more with you, I should be able to find room on the transport for the rest."

"It won't be a problem, sir." Maqui saluted the soldier, who returned the salute, before addressing Lightning again.

"Then we'll get your transportation ready for you. Good day." With that, he turned and walked away.

"Hey, Maqui, you brought the V-10?" Hope couldn't contain his excitement at this prospect, and all eyes turned to him and the other teen.

"Well, yeah, it was the only transportation I had available, why?"

"You promised me I could take it for a spin once you got it. I'd like to do that now."

"Hope..." Maqui started to protest, but Hope's excitement was apparent, and he ended up changing his question in mid-thought. "Why now?"

"Because you promised, and you'll get to ride in a military transport, like you've always wanted."

"OK, but who's going to ride with you?"

"Vanille will."

"I will?" Vanille looked at Hope with mock shock and surprise at the mention of her name. Maqui considered this for a moment then nodded.

"All right, she's all yours, but if you break it you owe me a new one."

"I'll make sure it stays in one piece, or you'll get your money back. Don't worry about it." Maqui nodded and the two shook hands, sealing the deal.

It was around this time that Snow noticed Zion had left the group. He was currently standing by himself near one of the buildings, staring at the dark skies to the northwest, behind the Power Plant. He turned his head slightly as Snow approached him, but other than that didn't acknowledge his presence until NORA's leader spoke up. "Whats going on?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Zion had finally taken his eyes off the sky to look at Snow.

"You seem distracted about something, that's all."

"I'm just thinking." Zion looked back at the sky, then turned his attention elsewhere. "For some reason I keep getting the feeling that something's not right."

"You mean like we messed up?"

"No, nothing like that. I just get the feeling that we're missing something that we should be seeing. Or that there's something off about this situation, and I'm just not familiar enough with it to see what it is."

"Well, I do know that the weather has been unusually wet around here lately. I'm guessing by the way you're looking at those clouds, you're thinking the same thing."

"I don't know the weather patterns in Cocoon, but yes, I don't think that they are normal. Then again, how would I know what normal is for a planet who's very weather is created by the fal'Cie?"

Snow laughed a little at Zion's comment. "No, I suppose you can't, can you?"

Hope had walked up to the two by this time. "They'll be ready to go in about ten minutes."

"All right, Hope. Thanks." Snow nodded to the younger man, and he turned around and went back to the group. The blond l'Cie then turned his attention back to Zion. "What is going to happen with us, Zion?"

"I'm afraid that I don't know what our future holds any more than the rest of you. I don't even know where we need to go next."

"So what then?"

"I suppose we need to find Blaine, if we can. Otherwise, Titan can probably help us." With that Zion shrugged and returned to the rest of the l'Cie.

It didn't take long before the transport was ready to load. The machine was a smaller vehicle, designed to hover above the ground rather than actually fly like the velocycles or most other vehicles could. This is because it was camouflaged with green cloth covering over the back end, to hide it from any aerial enemies.

Lightning hopped into the front seat, flanked by the two soldiers that were assigned to take care of the cargo. Sazh, Dajh, Maqui, Snow, and Serah got into the back, their backs to the side of the vehicle, or in the case of Sazh, Dajh, and Maqui, to the back of Lightning's seat. Zion and Fang climbed in and sat near the open back end of the truck-like vehicle, giving themselves a clear view at Hope and Vanille as they followed on Maqui's velocycle.

"The roads between here and Bodhum are muddy, we're not going to be able to go as fast as we normally could." One of the soldiers in the front warned the group before they pulled out of the base. "The rains have made the ground too soft, and our hovering capabilities are reduced because of it."

Other than that exchange, much of the ride was spent in silence. The various riders did exchange some small conversations with each other, though Zion and Fang kept a close eye on the velocycle, and the woods that flanked the path they were traveling on. Eventually, it came out that Maqui had called Lebreau and told her that the group was heading to Bodhum for the night. Because of this, a party was being hastily put together, and that was what the group was discussing now.

"So Yuj and Gadot are actually going to be back tonight?" Snow was surprised at this news.

"Yeah, apparently they finished their hunt early." Maqui just shrugged and smiled.

"Well, good. That way we can have a true celebration and introduce our friends from Pulse!" Snow laughed at his own comments, clearly enjoying the idea of a party.

"Yeah, I'm sure Lebreau will love to see the reason why Hope has turned down all her offers." Sazh had to poke fun at Hope, even if he wasn't able to hear it.

"Yeah, well, at least Hope has someone who wants him." Lightning's uncharacteristic reply caught everyone off guard for a second, but when she turned and flashed them a rare smile, everyone started laughing once again.

"Yeah, well, we have to get to Bodhum first." Zion's quiet comment got everyone's attention nonetheless, and all the laughter and light feelings in the truck had disappeared.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Serah's question was what everyone was thinking.

"There's something that's been following us since just after we left Euride. Whatever it is, it's fast enough to keep up, but it doesn't seem to be ready to attack yet." Fang's comment sobered the group further as Zion glanced back at the others.

"And judging by his reaction, I'd say its something of Pulse origin." At Zion's comment, everyone's attention turned to Dajh, who had become very stiff, as if something had frightened him. When Sazh looked back at Zion, the younger l'Cie simply shook his head. "I don't know what it is, just that it's there."

Almost as soon as the words had left Zion's mouth, the forest to the driver's side of the vehicle parted, and a flash of turquoise crashed into the velocycle, knocking it off the path and down the hill on the other side of the road. Without a second's notice, Fang and Zion both leaped from the back of the truck, landing and rolling in the mud, before getting back to their feet and running toward the site of the crash.

"Stop the truck!" Snow's order was quickly turned down by one of the soldiers.

"I can't. The road is too muddy, if we stop we'll end up stuck. We need to get a vehicle capable of flight to go after them."

"Dammit!" Snow punched the back of the seat he was in, and thus hit Lightning in the back. She turned and glared at him.

"Don't worry, Snow. Those four are more than capable of taking care of themselves." Sazh's words did little to comfort the blond, since they lacked any conviction as he shared his frustration at the situation.

"Yeah, that's assuming Hope and Vanille aren't injured, or worse." Snow grumbled, and looked back, noting that the two Pulsians could no longer be seen as the truck had traveled around a bend in the road.

_A/N: Yeah, kinda a bad ending, but I wanted to put the chase/fight sequence in the next two chapters. I really don't know how long either of the next two will be, but they'll probably be longer than this one._

_As always, please review and comment! I appreciate hearing all the compliments, but feel free to tell me if I'm doing something wrong too._


	20. Rescue

_A/N: It's a milestone! Chapter 20! No, I'm not marking the occasion with any fanfare or anything, besides, I'm probably only about a third of the way through "A New Mission" which means I'm only about ten percent done with the entire arc, maybe a little more._

_I'd also like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Between life away from the computer and a bad case of writer's block, I had a hard time finishing this one._

_This time around, Zion and Fang mount a rescue operation for Vanille and Hope._

_Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII is owned by Square-Enix. Please don't sue!_

**Chapter 20 – Rescue**

It hadn't taken Zion and Fang long to get to where the velocycle had been hit. They rushed down the side of the hill, aware that the monster that had attacked their friends could still be around and able to attack them. They found the cycle without much trouble, it had slid down the hillside and landed at the bottom of a ravine. As they approached it, they could hear moaning from underneath it, so they quickly made their way around to the other side.

Vanille was barley conscious, her leg had become trapped under the bike, and there was some blood coming from her head. It was apparent that she was just starting to wake up, and a few seconds after Zion and Fang arrived, she sat up and screamed in pain. Her adopted family was by her side in an instant, trying to calm her down. "Shhh, Vanille, it's all right." Fang's soothing voice managed to get the girl's attention, at least until Zion started to move the bike.

At that point Vanille screamed again, and Zion winced, setting it back down where it had been. "Sorry, Vanille." He looked around the area, and realized that her driver was nowhere to be found. "Where's Hope?"

"He... got thrown." Vanille was awake enough to respond to the questions, and to feel the pain she was in, but she wasn't currently completely aware of what was happening.

Zion looked at Fang, his expression one of concern. "Can you go find Hope?"

"Why me?" Fang didn't want to leave her sister, as the two of them were much closer to each other than either of them was to Zion.

"Because I don't think you can move this bike, and Hope may be in just as bad of shape as Vanille, if not worse, so someone needs to go find him." Fang didn't like the idea, but she had to admit that Zion was right. The velocycle was too big for her to move on her own, and in Vanille's state, she wasn't going to be much help for anything. Nodding her agreement, Fang took off back up the hill to find her sister's boyfriend. Zion watched her go, but was brought out of his trance when Vanille grabbed his arm, causing him to look at her.

"Zion, my leg." She looked down and saw that she was still pinned by the bike. "Help me."

Zion nodded to Vanille, realizing that her head seemed to be clearing itself up quicker than he'd thought. "I will, but it's going to hurt, a lot."

"I know. I think I can take it now." Zion considered his options, and her words, for a few seconds before nodding to her. He then took both of his arms and started to lift the cycle off of her leg. As soon as the bike had started to move, Vanille cried out in pain again, but this time Zion didn't stop. He had to see how badly his sister was injured.

Her leg had been burned pretty badly, Zion noticed right away. He also saw that it was bent awkwardly, indicating that it was probably broken. The most unnerving thing he found, however, was that her foot had become caught in the foot rest, and in order to free her from her imprisonment, he was going to need to cut it loose. He sat the bike back down on her as gently as he could. "Vanille, I'm sorry. I don't know if I can get you free by myself."

"What? Why not?" Vanille's voice had gone from pained to worried and scared. Zion closed his eyes and shook his head.

"The straps that are supposed to keep you from being thrown off of the bike are now keeping me from getting you out from under it, because your foot is caught in one. I need to cut it out, but I'd need an extra set of hands to do that, and a weapon smaller than my sword."

He kept his eyes closed, trying to think of another way to free his sister, when he heard a metallic click. Opening his eyes and looking at Vanille, he saw that she had pulled out a knife and was now holding it out to him. He looked at her curiously as he took it, and she answered the unspoken question. "Hope gave it to me the first night that we were revived. He said that Lightning had given it to him as a symbol of their friendship, and he wanted to do the same for me."

Zion looked the knife over as she spoke and nodded his understanding to her. "You two go well together. I'm happy for you." He smirked at her confused face. "Oh, come on, it's pretty obvious you two are in love. I just hope that Fang won't treat you two like Lightning treats Serah and Snow." At this, the two started laughing lightly, until a stab of pain shot up Vanille's leg and she winced and laid back down once again.

"Zion, please?"

Zion nodded and lifted up the bike again, looking at the situation. He paused for a second before doing anything. "When I cut this, you're going to have to get yourself out from underneath it." She nodded and braced herself to move as best she could once she was able. Zion nodded again, then shifted his body so that the velocycle was resting on his shoulder.

Unfortunately for Zion, the position he found himself in now was one where the engine was near his shoulder, burning through his thin clothing. He winced in pain as he took the knife and cut the straps. As soon as he was done, Vanille started crawling out from under the wreckage. Once she was safely free, Zion removed himself from underneath it as well, letting it crash back down onto the ground.

Zion helped drag Vanille further into the clearing that she had ended up in, moving her so that her back was propped up against a large rock. It was then that he was able to take a good look at her injured leg. The look on his face caused Vanille to become concerned. "What is it, Zion?"

The older l'Cie sighed and looked from the leg to Vanille's eyes. "I'm sorry, but your leg is broken very badly. If I cast Cure on it right now, it'll heal, but the bone won't go back together properly. I need to reset the bone first."

"All right." Vanille didn't seem to concerned about this. Zion knew why.

"Yeah, well it's going to hurt a lot more than it currently does when I reset it. And you know as well as I do that even after I Cure it, the pain will still be there for a while." He paused then clarified his comments. "You won't be able to walk on this leg for a couple of hours after I heal it."

Vanille's face fell sharply as Zion explained her situation. Her normal cheery self was completely gone at this time. Seeing this Zion considered other options. "You do have two other choices, however. You can wait here and hope that Lightning is able to come back and pick us up. The risk there is that we don't know how long that's going to take, and you have a high risk of infection." He paused and pulled out the rod from his pouch. "Or, I can use this on your leg. It'll numb you up so that you won't feel the pain, but your leg will still be pretty much useless for a few hours."

Vanille considered her options for a few seconds. "If my leg will be useless for a few hours anyway, I might as well take the rod. At least I won't be in much pain then."

Zion nodded, then pressed the rod against Vanille's calf. The shock immediately caused her to yelp in surprise and pain as she jerked her leg back automatically, but once it was over, her leg was left completely numb. Zion then set to work with healing his sister's injuries.

"Ungh..." Hope woke up slowly. As he did, he was aware of a warm liquid under his head, and that he had a pounding headache. Lifting it up, he placed his hand along the side and winced as he found a gash there. He was faintly aware that something else was nearby, but his eyes were having difficulty focusing. The young l'Cie began to pick himself up, shaking his head to clear his vision, when a flash caught his blurred eyes.

By instinct, he jumped backwards, landing on his feet drawing his boomerang as a loud crunch came from his previous position. By now his vision had begun to clear and he could see a very large wolf-like creature with a blood-stained rock in it's mouth. The wolf spit the rock out and growled at Hope. "Yeah, you aren't that tough. Bring it on." Hope regretted that statement as soon as he'd said it, because as his vision cleared completely, he realized that there wasn't one wolf, but five. "Shit."

Hope began to back away from the pack as they stalked toward him. Realizing that they were just waiting to strike, he decided he needed to do so first, and fired off a Thundaga spell right into the middle of the group. The attack hit them all, but unfortunately for Hope it didn't kill any of them. It did, however, stun them long enough for Hope to take off running.

He ran blindly through the wooded area, slipping on the mud and nearly falling a few times. The five wolves were all in pursuit, he could hear them barking and howling at him as they chased him. He turned to look behind them, as he could hear them getting closer, but when he did, he tripped over a large root sticking out of the ground. He rolled a couple of times but then had to duck as one of the wolves had leaped at him in an attempt to tackle him back to the ground. He repaid that attempt with a Fire spell, but realized quickly that he was in serious trouble.

Another wolf jumped at him as he was distracted by the first one. By the time Hope saw it, he realized he wouldn't be able to defend against it. Before he knew what was happening, however, a flash of dark blue and black intercepted the wolf, knocking it away. Hope turned in the direction of the movement, and saw Fang standing over the wounded animal. "You all right, Hope?"

"Nothing a Cure spell or two can't fix." Hope realized for the first time as he spoke just how tired and sore he was. He also realized just how much his head was throbbing.

"Well, get yourself fixed up while I keep these nasties busy. You're not gonna be any use to anyone if you don't get that cut stopped." Before Hope could reply, Fang had started her sentinel role, getting all five of the wolves to start attacking her. Hope set about casting Cure on himself, healing most of his injuries and stopping the bleeding coming from his head, though his head was still pounding. He then switched to the ravager role and began pumping the animals with various elemental spells. Seeing this, Fang switched to the Commando role and began her own offensive.

The fight didn't last long, less than a minute, before two of the wolves had been killed and the other three all wounded. However, as the three wounded wolves fell back a bit, more howling could be heard coming from other directions. "Bloody bastards. They set a trap for us." She realized quickly that the rest of the wolf pack was bearing down on them from all directions. "Come on, we gotta go." With that, she grabbed Hope's arm and led him off down the hill toward where the velocycle had ended up.

Zion had healed Vanille's leg as much as he could. There was still evidence of the burns, and a few scratches as well, but the bleeding had stopped and the bone had been put back in place. Zion had also moved his adopted sister away from the cycle, propping her up against a large rock, as they sat and talked. Vanille had been telling about their previous adventure.

"But Barthandelus had merged with Orphan, so in the end we had to destroy it to defeat him." Vanille had been recounting the events as she'd thought of them, starting with the Purge. She'd mentioned Fang's flirting with Snow and others, the ordeal of the Fifth Ark, their adventures on Pulse, and the return to Eden. "At some point during the fight with Orphan, Fang and I both realized what we had to do. When Cocoon started to fall toward the surface, we turned into Ragnarok, but instead of finishing the job, we turned the entire planet to crystal and created a crystal pillar to keep it from smashing into Gran Pulse." She sighed at this point, obviously somewhat saddened by this turn of events. "It wasn't something either of us wanted to do, since we didn't know how long we'd be in stasis, or if we'd ever see our friends again. But we had to do it, otherwise there wouldn't be anyone left to see when we DID wake up."

"It's a shame that Barthandelus was able to get as far as he did with his plans." Zion was reflecting on his own failure to stop the fal'Cie. "Though, sometimes I wonder if it wasn't fate that brought the events around this way." He looked away from Vanille as he spoke, something else had gotten his attention.

"What is it?"

"The wolves, they've changed direction. They're heading more this way now." In the distance, barking and howling of a pack of wolves could be heard. The two l'Cie had been listening to them for a while, assuming they were after some sort of prey. Vanille had mentioned that she hoped it wasn't Hope they'd found, and Zion had tried to reassure her that it wasn't, though now he wasn't so sure. As they listened, they heard another sound, one much closer and more distinct.

"Zion, you hear flan?" Zion looked at her and nodded. He then grabbed a hold of her and moved her to the other side of the large rock she was sitting on.

"Stay here. I'm going to send a message to Fang and Hope."

"How?" Vanille watched her brother as he left her and went over to the velocycle. It took her a couple of seconds to realize what he'd planned to do, and once she did, she ducked back behind the rock and waited.

Zion moved the bike more into the middle of the small clearing that Vanille and the vehicle had ended up in. He then took the knife that he'd borrowed from Vanille and stabbed the gas tank, causing fuel to begin to leak out of it. He backed away just as the first flan began to slither into the clearing. _Shit, not these guys._ Zion became extremely concerned about his current situation. The flan he was facing was not one native to this area. This one had a blue body and a dark blue head and back. Zion was somewhat thankful that this brand of flan was weak to fire, but he also knew that they were much tougher than most of the flan that were around.

As he stepped away from the velocycle, he saw two more flan enter the clearing behind the first. Realizing that he was out of time, he launched a fireball at the puddle of gasoline, causing it to immediately ignite. The bike quickly was consumed by fire and exploded, sending pieces over the rock Vanille was hiding behind. The smoke from the explosion rose quickly over the tops of the trees that surrounded the group.

"Hey, did you guys hear something?" Sazh was a little concerned, as he could have sworn he'd heard something explode in the distance.

"Look!" Serah pointed at the smoke rising above the trees in the distance behind the truck. It didn't take long for everyone to come to the same conclusion.

"I hope that everyone's all right." Snow was somewhat solemn in his words, showing he truly was concerned about the fates of his friends.

"They're alive. I can still sense them." Everyone looked at Dajh for a second, then remembered his ability. As they realized what he was saying, they noticeably relaxed.

"Well, Maqui, it looks like Hope's going to owe you a new velocycle after all, isn't he?"

"I'll discuss it with him once we're all back at Bodhum." He turned to the soldiers who were in the front of the vehicle. "Hey, can you guys hurry up? Our friends may have been caught up in that explosion!"

"We're going as fast as we can. We should be in Bodhum in another ten minutes or so." Lightning spoke for the other soldiers. "I'm worried about them too, Maqui, but I know Fang, Vanille, and Hope well enough to know that they'll survive, no matter what."

Snow looked at her a little curiously. "And Zion?"

Lightning turned and showed a faint smile at Snow. "I don't know him very well, but he's obviously a survivor. He'd probably outlast all of us."

"Damn, change of plans, Hope." Both of them had heard the explosion and felt the ground shake slightly from it. They could see the smoke from the bike's explosion, and Fang was already aware of what had happened. She grabbed the younger l'Cie's arm and led him to the left, aiming to go around the location of the fire.

"What's going on, Fang?"

"That was a signal from Zion." Fang looked back at her companion, and noticed that he didn't understand. "It's an old trick we used on Pulse. When you've set up a meeting point and it is no longer safe to use that point, you make sure that everyone knows it."

"How?"

"By destroying it." At this, Hope realized what had happened, and his heart sank. Seeing this, Fang stopped and turned to him. "Don't worry. Vanille's still alive, and I'm pretty sure Zion will do anything in his power to make her stay that way."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Well, knowing Zion, he probably destroyed the bike to take out something that was after them. If that's the case, they'll be on the run just like we are. He'll probably head downhill, probably in the general direction of Bodhum. He'll have a head start on us, but Vanille wasn't in very good shape when I saw her, so he'll be slowed down some."

Hope looked at Fang worried as she mentioned Vanille's condition. "She's alive, but her leg was broken and burned. Even if he cured her wounds the pain and weakness will still be there. We just need to find him and do what we can to help him. Come on." With that, she grabbed his arm and pulled him further into the woods.

_A/N: Chapter 20 is in the books, finally! I actually didn't know how to end this chapter, whether to leave it on a cliffhanger or to go ahead and give the aftermath of the explosion. I actually did a little of both, since I didn't give Zion's fate._

_Next time, more chasing and fighting, and we find out what happened to the large creature that crashed into the bike to begin with!_

_As always, reviews and comments are loved!_


	21. Trolled

_A/N: Well here we go, another chapter of the story. This one is pretty much all action, and if this was a game instead of a story, this chapter would be a fairly tough boss fight. Hope you enjoy it._

_I would like to apologize for the long delay, I haven't forgotten about this story. In all honesty, I thought I'd already uploaded this chapter, but apparently I didn't. The next two are almost finished, so I'll probably put one more up before the end of the year. After that, I might wait until Brotherhood is finished, because I've noticed my quality on both pieces has fallen off with me switching back and forth._

_I am, however, also dealing with some personal issues, which isn't helping me write any, so I really don't know WHEN the next chapter will be out._

_Disclaimer, again: I own nothing but the characters I created!_

**Chapter 21 – Trolled**

In the few minutes since the explosion, Vanille had managed to crawl some distance from the rock she'd been hiding behind. She had no idea where Zion was, or if he'd even survived the blast, since he'd been much closer to it, and he had no protection. Fang and Hope could be anywhere, Vanille realized, and they may not even be heading in the same direction that she currently was. She hadn't heard or seen any flan since the blast, but she knew there were still some out there somewhere. She managed to crawl past a large tree, and as she did, she realized how tired she was. She laid back against it and closed her eyes for a few seconds. She jumped and screamed, when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Hey, Vanille, it's all right. It's just me." Vanille finally realized that the hand belonged to her adopted brother, who was kneeling next to her. As she calmed down from her shock and surprise, she looked at him with a mixture of emotions. His face was fairly red, and the right side of it had several scratches and cuts. His right arm was also cut and scraped, and it appeared that it had been broken as well. She saw that his shirt and pants were torn up, probably from the flying debris like the rest of his body. It didn't take long for her to realize that he'd probably cast several cure spells on himself so that he was at least somewhat healed, but she also realized that he was going to need more help than that to get completely fixed.

Vanille reached out and touched the scratched and burned part of Zion's face, causing him to wince and recoil slightly. He quickly grabbed her hand, realizing that she was going to try to cure him herself, shaking his head at her. "Don't. There's more flan out there, I only got a couple of them. You're going to need your strength to help both of us survive long enough for the others to get back." He stood up and helped his sister to her feet as well, before placing his right arm around her back, holding her up on her injured leg. As he was doing so, she had a chance to consider how much of his own energy he'd have had to use to survive what just happened.

"You must be tired."

"I am, but we don't have time to rest right now." He looked at her once again, making sure she was able to move on, then they began walking down the path. "I'm not going to be able to do much for magic attacks or defense for a little bit, so you're going to have to take care of the long range stuff for me, all right?"

Vanille nodded in confirmation, but she had a question of her own. "Those flan, I didn't recognize them, did you?"

"Yes. They are a rare variation found in a remote area far to the south of Oerba. They're much stronger than most of the other types of flan you've encountered, and like many of the others, they can merge into a much more powerful creature, which should be avoided at all costs. On the plus side, they are weak to fire, though getting off more than one or two spells before they can get in range is going to be difficult."

"And how many spells will it take to put them down?"

Zion sighed and looked at her almost apologetically. "More than one or two."

"Then we need to get moving, don't we." Vanille tried to walk a little faster, but instead, she stepped on her numb leg, and fell down to the ground. Zion quickly helped her back to her feet.

"Yeah, but we'll move faster if you can stay on your good foot." Zion smiled at his sister. She knew that he was just trying to make her feel better, as it was fairly obvious she was depressed about her helplessness. To his credit, it was actually working.

"Ugh, bloody beasts!" Fang knocked one of the wolves that had been chasing her and Hope away as it had tried to lunge at her. The wolf stumbled to the ground, tripping two others that had been gaining on the pair as they ran almost blindly through the forest. The stumbling pack slowed the wolves down, and it bought the l'Cie a few seconds to get some space between them.

The two had been running more or less downhill since the explosion. Fang had told the other l'Cie that odds were they were heading in the same general direction, and there was a chance that they'd eventually meet up. Hope had been concerned about Vanille, and to a lesser extent Zion, being injured in the explosion, but Fang had assured him they would be all right. All the same, they were surprised when they literally ran into the other pair as they came around a small rock wall.

Both Fang and Hope noticed immediately that Vanille's left leg was in bad shape, and Zion had burns and cuts all over the right side of his body. Before anyone could ask anything Zion simply shook his head. "We'll talk later. Wolves?" Fang nodded at his question, and Zion pointed behind him. "Flan. Come on, there's a river about a half mile from here, we should be able to follow it most of the way to Bodhum."

He paused for a second and looked between the other three. "Hope, can you take Vanille please? The Flan are weak to fire, and a bit slower than the wolves. If you can hold them off, we can keep the dogs away." Hope nodded, and took Zion's place holding Vanille up, as Zion unsheathed his sword. "All right, let's go."

The four made their way down the hill fairly quickly, all things considered. After a few minutes, they could hear the water running, though they couldn't see it. It was at this point when Fang realized that their pursuers weren't following any more. "What happened, they get tired of chasing us?"

Zion looked back in the direction they had been coming from, and Hope and Vanille had stopped at Fang's question as well. Zion shook his head at Fang. "No, I don't know why they would have. The wolves are territorial, but the flan should still be pursuing us."

"Well, maybe they decided to fight each other rather than chase us all over." Hope's comment did make some sense, but something else was bothering the two trained hunters.

"Those flan would have made short work of the wolves, especially if the numbers were equal." Zion's statement didn't settle well with the younger three. Before anyone could say anything else, though, a loud roar was heard from the direction the group had been heading. Turning around, they realized that they were nearing an open area near the river. It appeared to have once been some sort of campground. But at the current time, the only thing residing in the area was a humanoid creature with blue skin that was about ten feet tall.

"That's what hit our bike." Hope almost gasped as he spoke those words. It was apparent that he'd been startled and probably frightened by the ordeal. The creature hadn't noticed the l'Cie yet, as they were still hiding within the trees. As they watched, they realized that the creature appeared to be in some pain. In fact, when the creature turned slightly, they noticed a large gash in its side, which was still oozing blood. "I guess we injured it almost as bad as it injured us."

Vanille was more concerned about something else, however. "Zion, what is that thing?"

"I don't know. It looks almost like a troll that is seen in the forests east of the Faultwarrens, but this one's a lot bigger than those creatures."

"So, what are we going to do?" Vanille was concerned about this situation. She realized, as Hope probably did, that this was about the only area they'd seen where an airborne vehicle would be able to spot them easily. Fang and Zion both looked at each other and nodded in agreement, before talking to the other two.

"All right, Vanille. We need you to stay here, and stay hidden. We're going to have to get rid of him in order to secure this place for a pick up." Fang was issuing the orders for now, but Zion was in agreement. "However, in your state, if he doesn't know you're here, he won't attack you. Since you can't defend yourself right now, it'd be better that way."

"You can feel free to heal us and buff us, but don't try to attack that creature, whether with spells or saboteur attacks. Let Hope and myself worry about that, all right?" Vanille nodded, but she had a question of her own.

"What about the creatures we were running from? Once you start fighting that thing, they may come back." The two older l'Cie paused and looked at each other, silently asking about her question. They had to admit, she was right, after all. It was Hope, however, that spoke up.

"It's a risk we'll have to take. If we sit around here, eventually that thing's going to probably notice our presence and we'll have to fight him anyway. At least this way, we can surprise him a little bit."

The three l'Cie made their way quickly and quietly toward the large troll, or at least that's what they thought. As soon as they were in range, the troll howled and swung around, brandishing a large club that none had seen until then. Fang and Hope managed to duck the wild swing, but Zion got hit. Vanille, seeing this from her position, couldn't help but wince as Zion was knocked back. Much to her surprise, however, Zion didn't go down. In fact, he appeared to shrug off the blow. It was then she realized that he'd managed to block most of the impact with his sword, and a quick change into the Sentinel paradigm.

After the initial swing, the beast attempted to bring the club down on Zion's head, which the l'Cie avoided fairly easily, before getting back up and casting a fire spell on the beast. By this point Fang and Hope had also recovered from their earlier dodge and began to execute the plan they'd agreed upon before beginning. Hope had begun casting various debuffs on the creature, though it became apparent that this beast was somewhat resistant to status effects. Zion continued pelting it with various elemental attacks when Fang was in her Commando role, but when she switched to Sentinel, Zion would switch to Commando and keep up the pressure. Hope found himself switching between Ravager and Saboteur, while Vanille, from her hiding spot, alternated between Medic and Synergist.

The troll kept attacking with his club mostly, but occasionally it would punch the ground, sending shock waves out and forcing those near it to jump out of the way. It appeared to be somewhat intelligent, as it generally followed up its ground pound with a vertical swing aimed at one of the l'Cie.

It was a little over a minute into the fight when Zion noticed that the monster had taken a few steps back. It was then he realized that the troll's hand was glowing blue. "Watch out!" Before anyone could react, the troll slammed his fist into the ground once again, this time, however, the shock wave froze the ground around them, in addition to tripping them all up. Zion was barely able to dodge the club strike, and when he tried to get back to his feet, he slipped and fell again. As he looked around, he noticed Fang and Hope having the same problems with getting their footing as he was. The troll, with his large feet, seemed to be immune to the sudden slipperiness of the ground, as it walked toward Hope, aiming to bash him with the club.

"HEY! You big, ugly bald-headed bastard! Over here!" The troll turned around, swinging his club in a wide arc, forcing Fang to duck as she continued to yell at him. She seemed to have regained her footing better than the rest of the group, and was now using her sentinel paradigm to keep the troll's attention as Vanille healed the group and recast the buffs which had worn off.

The troll lifted up its large club to smack Fang with, but was instead met with a pair of Thundaga spells from Hope and Zion. The spells struck the club, and between it and the icy floor, the surge of electricity knocked the giant beast to its knees. "It's staggered!" Hope shouted. Fang and Zion immediately switched to Commando and tried to take advantage of the beast's state. With two weapons repeatedly bashing the stunned enemy in addition to Hope's spells, the trio managed to rack up some heavy damage upon it. Even so, after about thirty seconds, the beast let out a loud wail and stood back up, knocking Fang and Zion away in the process. Both l'Cie landed hard on opposite ends of the ice covered ground.

"Dammit, he should have been stunned longer than that." Zion was somewhat surprised at the troll's resilience. Even if it was tougher than a normal troll due to its increase in size, it still should have fallen by now. Yet it didn't even look like they'd scratched the beast beyond what had already been done to it.

At that point, Hope dropped to one knee. Vanille had been buffing the party, but she had only been healing Fang and Zion, as they had been the ones bearing the brunt of the troll's fury. Vanille began pumping Cure spells into her boyfriend, and he managed to get back to his feet and make his way over to Zion. "We aren't doing as much damage as we should be!"

Zion nodded. He'd realized this as well, and judging by Fang's sudden retreat from the monster, she'd noticed as well. From his position on one knee, Zion was suddenly aware of just how weak he was feeling, though he hadn't taken any hits in a while. He looked down at the ground and came to a sudden and frightening realization. "It's the element." Though it was barely a whisper, Hope had heard it. It didn't help his confusion any, however.

"What do you mean?"

"The damn bastard. He turned the ground to ice so that it could sap our energy and feed his!"

Now Hope realized what was going on, and by this point Fang was close enough to the group to hear what had been said as well. "Great, so what do we do now?"

"We can't beat him on the ice. We need to get rid of his advantage." Before anyone could ask, Zion directed a Firaga spell at the ground, melting the ice around them, though not all of the ice was melted by this one attack. Nodding in confirmation, Hope did the same to another patch as Zion turned to his sister. "Keep off the ice, and try to get him off it as well."

As Zion spoke, the beast roared and slammed his fist into the ground again, creating another shock wave for the group to dodge, though this time without the ice. "Yeah, easier said than done." Fang winked at Zion then charged once again after the beast.

As the fight dragged on, it became a viscous and violent circle. The troll would occasionally put an ice element into his ground pound, forcing Zion and Hope to defrost it so that they could effectively damage the creature. As they were doing so, the beast would be hitting them with club strikes and more ground pounds. Vanille kept up her end of the equation as well, healing and buffing everyone as needed. Eventually, all four of the l'Cie were getting worn down by the battle. The troll had taken quite a bit of punishment as well, but it was quickly becoming obvious that the fight was becoming an endurance test, and he was winning it.

Eventually, Zion had to switch to a Sentinel role and let Fang attack the creature, as she was taking too much punishment. Hope was switching to Medic as well as his other modes in order to help Vanille, who was starting to fall behind. The troll itself seemed to be attacking more often and more randomly as the fight went on as well, making it that much harder to keep up with the damage being inflicted. Vanille realized the futility of the fight as well, and when Hope was unable to dodge a horizontal swing by the troll, she let out a gasp of shock when he didn't get back up.

Zion and Fang could barely hear her, but the troll had. Immediately he turned his attention to this new player. Vanille realized too late her mistake, and she also knew that she was helpless to defend against the beast as it charged her. Fang's attempts to get its attention went unnoticed by the creature, as did Zion's fire attacks. Though the beast had by now stepped away from the protective and healing power of the icy ground, it paid no attention. Zion, realizing that something needed to be done, took off to provide as much protection for his adopted sister as he could. He charged the beast, his sword lit up with fire, attacking the creature's leg. This stunned the troll for a brief second, but it soon regained its footing and looked down angrily at Zion. "That's right, ugly, I'm right here. Come and get me."

The troll grabbed Zion, its large hands covering almost half of his body as it began to squeeze the life out of the l'Cie. Fang and Vanille watched in horror as their brother was wiling to sacrifice himself to buy the others some time. Vanille had cast a Revive spell on Hope, and now he was launching several fire spells at the back of the troll, though the beast was completely ignoring them.

Zion wasn't done, however. He had managed to get the rod out of its pouch as he ran toward the creature. As the creature began to crush him, Zion jammed the rod into the beast's palm, zapping it and causing it to reel back in pain. Zion fell, hitting the ground hard and knocking the wind out of himself, as the creature wailed in pain and anger. Then, it looked down and saw Zion laying there. It charged up for another ground pound, this time aiming to land directly on Zion's stunned form. Before it could hit, however, the sound of several gunshots rang out.

The troll turned its attention, as did everyone else, to the source of the gunshots. In the air on the other side of the clearing, was an airborne troop transport, its guns trained on the creature that the group had been dealing with. "Lightning!" Hope exclaimed, louder than he probably had intended. The troll turned and charged at the transport, which then began firing repeatedly at it with the machine gun mounted at the base of the cockpit. The bullets ripped through the beast, but it kept charging. It eventually ran across the frozen fields, but not before the ship switched tactics and launched a missile.

The resulting explosion blinded everyone. In the aftermath, when the smoke began to clear, the troll was still there, seriously wounded but alive. It's legs had been blown off by the blast, and black smoke was seeping from the wounds. Zion stood back up, having recovered from his own injuries, with a little help from Vanille, and stepped toward the beast. As he did so, his blade began to charge with fire. Reaching a distance not too far from the creature, he jumped into the air, slamming his sword down into back of the troll's head. It let out a loud howl of pain, as smoke began to seep from this wound as well, before falling limply to the ground. Before Zion could get off the creature's back, the entire thing dissolved in a thick black smoke, much like the Cie'th had the day before.

Fang and Hope both ran over to Vanille, helping her to her feet and carrying her out into the clearing, as Zion knelt down where he'd ended up after the battle. He didn't move until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Lightning's concerned expression. "I'm all right, just winded. Vanille needs some help though." Lightning looked behind Zion, who turned and saw what she was staring at. The others had already been approached by the medics Light had brought with her, and they were getting the Pulsian on a stretcher to load her onto the ship, Hope by her side the entire time. Fang, however, had begun making her way toward the other l'Cie.

"Well, that was definitely a tougher fight than we've had in a while, wasn't it?" Lightning looked at the two of them curiously, but Zion simply nodded his confirmation.

"Another of the creature's possessed minions." Zion almost spat the statement out, his anger and frustration beginning to consume him slightly. He stood up and began walking toward the airship, but winced and went back down to one knee after a few steps. "Dammit."

"Hey, you sure you're all right?" Lightning and Fang were both over him in a heartbeat, with Lightning doing the talking.

"I will be, damn thing must have busted a rib. I just need to rest for a bit and get a few more Cures, but I'll be fine." He looked toward the airship as the two females helped him up again. "Vanille will be too, but her recovery may take a bit longer."

"Well, we can discuss everything when we get to Bodhum. The others are already there, and we'll all be speaking with Colonel Amodar once we arrive." Zion looked at her with some concern in his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed. "He's been my CO since long before the Purge. He's probably the one outside of our families and NORA that knows the most about what happened, what we did. He'll do whatever he can to help us." Zion simply nodded and allowed the two to help him into the airship, ready to be back in civilization.

_A/N: This ended up being longer than I thought it would. Perhaps I should stop assuming the length of these things, they never end up where I think they will. At any rate, next up, the group will finally meet Amodar in person. The next few chapters will be more story stuff and character development, but I'll probably have SOME action in them anyway._

_As always, please leave a review or comment. Its nice to feel appreciated._


	22. An Author's Note

I suppose I owe everyone who reads these stories an apology, and an explanation, for the lack of updates. First off, I'd like to say that this notice is being posted in both the Final Fantasy XIII story and the X-Men Evolution one.

I have an interesting problem with my writing. The problem is that what I write appears to me inside my head in the form of a movie. That is, inside my head, it's as if I'm watching it, directing it, but my control over what I see is somewhat limited. Unfortunately, that movie projector doesn't shut off when I step away from the computer. My mind is filled with images, scenes from the various stories that are floating around in my head.

The problem that arises is that because the scenes continue to play themselves out in my head, I end up with my mind being ahead of my writing. This is what happened seven months ago. I was trying to write Chapter 20 of the Final Fantasy story while my brain was showing me Chapter 35 or so. When I tried to turn around and go back, to rewind, I slammed head first into a creative brick wall. It's taken me a while to get around that wall, or through it, whatever you prefer. And now that I have, two new stories have taken up residence in my head.

I will continue writing. In fact, I have the next two chapters of the Final Fantasy story almost ready, I just need to re-edit them. In the meantime, I have decided to take an approach I've seen other writers mention. I will not post a chapter until the next chapter in the story is ready to go. That is, for example, I have two chapters nearly ready for Final Fantasy, but I won't even post the first until the second is ready. The exception to this is the X-Men one, of which the current story only has two chapters left. They will be posted as soon as they are ready, and I'll start this rule with the third story.

I hope this helps to explain my absence from posting, and to let you know I'm still here, I'm still working. I hope those of you who are fans of my stories continue to have patience, and stay with them, they will be updated again eventually. I also hope that you read my two new stories.

Oh, one more thing before I go. I am going to re-rate the stories I have, since they really fit the T rating rather than the M one. I may change the Final Fantasy story back to M eventually, though I haven't decided yet.

To Silver: Yeah, I'm sorry it's taking so long, I hope this helps to explain my lack of updates. I would have replied to you personally, but apparently you aren't a member, thus I can't do so.

To Etheral-23: There will be action between Light and Zion, though the initial action may not be what you're looking for.

Also, would it HURT to get some reviews on Brotherhood? I'd like to know that people are at least enjoying the story!


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